head to head · open source
llama_index vs genkit
llama_index has 52,779 GitHub stars, 8,500 forks, 770 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. genkit has 6,563 stars, 875 forks, 741 open issues and last shipped yesterday. llama_index leads on adoption by 704% (52,779 vs 6,563 stars). llama_index is written in Python under MIT; genkit is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. llama_index has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, genkit 13%. genkit was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (agents, llm, rag, vector-database), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| llama_index | genkit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 53K | ★ 6.6K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-26 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.5K | ⑂ 875 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick llama_index if
- You weight community size — 53K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick genkit if
- You want the genkit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and genkit fits your workflow better
About llama_index
🗂️ LlamaIndex (OSS Framework) 🦙 [!NOTE] The current focus of LlamaIndex is to build the best AI powered engine for document parsing and extraction. LlamaParse is our enterprise platform for agentic OCR, parsing, extraction, indexing and more. LiteParse represents our efforts to build the best free, fast, cheap text parser in the market. ParseBench and ExtractBench represent our commitment towards open benchmarking for parsing and extraction. The company itself has undergone an evolution since when this OSS framework first launched 3 years ago in 2023. Since the early days, the framework has consisted of a…
read the full llama_index overview →
About genkit
Genkit is an open source framework for building full stack AI powered applications, built and used in production by Google's Firebase. It provides SDKs for multiple programming languages with varying levels of stability: JavaScript/TypeScript : Production ready with full feature support Go : Production ready with full feature support Python (Beta) : Wide feature support approaching production readiness Dart (Preview) : Early development with core functionality It offers a unified interface for integrating AI models from providers like Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, and more. Rapidly build and deploy…
read the full genkit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is llama_index or genkit more popular?
llama_index has 52,779 GitHub stars and genkit has 6,563. llama_index has the larger community by that measure.
Are llama_index and genkit free?
Both are open source. llama_index is licensed under MIT and genkit under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between llama_index and genkit?
llama_index is written in Python and genkit in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, llama_index or genkit?
Choose llama_index if you want the larger community (52,779 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose genkit if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.