head to head · open source
llama_index vs unbody
llama_index has 52,206 GitHub stars, 8,165 forks, 770 open issues and last shipped yesterday. unbody has 524 stars, 47 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. llama_index leads on adoption by 9,863% (52,206 vs 524 stars). llama_index is written in Python under MIT; unbody is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. llama_index has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, unbody 9%. llama_index was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (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 | unbody | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 524 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-04-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.2K | ⑂ 47 |
| 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 unbody if
- You want the unbody 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 unbody 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 unbody
Unbody is an Apache 2.0, TypeScript, modular open source backend for building AI native software that is designed for knowledge rather than static data, and it is aimed at developers and teams that want to self host the ingestion, indexing and retrieval layer behind chat, search and agentic applications.
read the full unbody overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is llama_index or unbody more popular?
llama_index has 52,206 GitHub stars and unbody has 524. llama_index has the larger community by that measure.
Are llama_index and unbody free?
Both are open source. llama_index is licensed under MIT and unbody under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between llama_index and unbody?
llama_index is written in Python and unbody 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 unbody?
Choose llama_index if you want the larger community (52,206 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose unbody if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.