head to head · open source
llama_index vs Langfuse
llama_index has 52,202 GitHub stars, 8,162 forks, 770 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Langfuse has 34,729 stars, 3,785 forks, 926 open issues and last shipped yesterday. llama_index leads on adoption by 50% (52,202 vs 34,729 stars). llama_index is written in Python under MIT; Langfuse is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. llama_index has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Langfuse 11%. Langfuse was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (llm), 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| llama_index | Langfuse | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 35K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.2K | ⑂ 3.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick llama_index if
- You weight community size — 52K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Langfuse if
- You want the Langfuse feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Langfuse fits your workflow better
About llama_index
LlamaIndex is an MIT licensed, open source Python framework for building agentic applications — retrieval augmented generation systems, agents and multi agent workflows — on top of private documents and data, and it is aimed at AI engineers and teams who need to connect large language models to their own sources of context.
read the full llama_index overview →
About Langfuse
Langfuse is an open source LLM engineering platform for building, monitoring, and improving AI powered applications. It lives in the LLMops ecosystem and provides tooling for the full development lifecycle—from prompt iteration and evaluation to observability and dataset management. Built with TypeScript and powered by ClickHouse, it enables teams to track LLM calls, user sessions, and internal logic like retrieval or agent actions in a unified interface.
read the full Langfuse overview →
More in AI & Machine Learning
Related comparisons
More Machine Learning Infrastructure projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Machine Learning Infrastructure field.
Frequently asked questions
Is llama_index or Langfuse more popular?
llama_index has 52,202 GitHub stars and Langfuse has 34,729. llama_index has the larger community by that measure.
Are llama_index and Langfuse free?
Both are open source. llama_index is licensed under MIT, and Langfuse has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between llama_index and Langfuse?
llama_index is written in Python and Langfuse 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 Langfuse?
Choose llama_index if you want the larger community (52,202 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Langfuse if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.