head to head · open source
llama_index vs zvec
llama_index has 52,779 GitHub stars, 8,500 forks, 770 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. zvec has 16,176 stars, 1,015 forks, 56 open issues and last shipped yesterday. llama_index leads on adoption by 226% (52,779 vs 16,176 stars). llama_index is written in Python under MIT; zvec is written in C++ under Apache-2.0. llama_index has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, zvec 6%. zvec was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (rag), 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 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| llama_index | zvec | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 53K | ★ 16K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-26 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.5K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| 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 zvec if
- You want the zvec feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and zvec 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 zvec
English 中文 🚀 Quickstart 🏠 Home 📚 Docs 📊 Benchmarks 🔎 DeepWiki 🎮 Discord 🐦 X (Twitter) Zvec is an open source, in process vector database — lightweight, lightning fast, and designed to embed directly into applications. Battle tested within Alibaba Group, it delivers production grade, low latency and scalable similarity search with minimal setup. [!Important] 🚀 v0.7.0 (August 24, 2026) zvec grep ( zg ) : Local first workspace search that unifies ripgrep, BM25, and vector search behind one CLI — built for humans and AI agents. ReMe integration : zvec is now a file store backend in ReMe, the memory…
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 zvec more popular?
llama_index has 52,779 GitHub stars and zvec has 16,176. llama_index has the larger community by that measure.
Are llama_index and zvec free?
Both are open source. llama_index is licensed under MIT and zvec under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between llama_index and zvec?
llama_index is written in Python and zvec in C++. 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 zvec?
Choose llama_index if you want the larger community (52,779 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose zvec if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.