head to head · open source
LobeChat vs ai-chatbot-framework
LobeChat has 83,716 GitHub stars, 16,033 forks, 922 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ai-chatbot-framework has 2,167 stars, 748 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. LobeChat leads on adoption by 3,763% (83,716 vs 2,167 stars). LobeChat is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; ai-chatbot-framework is written in TypeScript under MIT. LobeChat has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, ai-chatbot-framework 35%. LobeChat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (deepseek), 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
| LobeChat | ai-chatbot-framework | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 84K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-08-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 16K | ⑂ 748 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LobeChat if
- You weight community size — 84K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ai-chatbot-framework if
- You want the ai-chatbot-framework feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and ai-chatbot-framework fits your workflow better
About LobeChat
[![][image banner]][vercel link] LobeHub LobeHub organizes your agents into 7×24 operation. It hires, schedules, reports on your entire AI team. You stay in charge — without staying online. English · 简体中文 · [Official Site][official site] · [Changelog][changelog] · [Documents][docs] · [Blog][blog] · [Feedback][github issues link] [![][github release shield]][github release link] [![][docker release shield]][docker release link] [![][vercel shield]][vercel link] [![][discord shield]][discord link] [![][codecov shield]][codecov link] [![][github action test shield]][github action test link] [![][github action…
read the full LobeChat overview →
About ai-chatbot-framework
AI Chatbot Framework is an open source, self hosted, DIY Chatbot building platform built in Python. With this tool, it’s easy to create Natural Language conversational scenarios with no coding efforts whatsoever. The smooth UI makes it effortless to create and train conversations to the bot. AI Chatbot Framework can live on any channel of your choice (such as Messenger, Slack etc.). You don’t need to be an expert at artificial intelligence to create an awesome chatbot that has AI capabilities. With this project you can create an AI powered chatbot in no time. Read the documentation to get started. Sponsors…
read the full ai-chatbot-framework overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is LobeChat or ai-chatbot-framework more popular?
LobeChat has 83,716 GitHub stars and ai-chatbot-framework has 2,167. LobeChat has the larger community by that measure.
Are LobeChat and ai-chatbot-framework free?
Both are open source. LobeChat has no licence declared in this registry, and ai-chatbot-framework is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between LobeChat and ai-chatbot-framework?
LobeChat is written in TypeScript and ai-chatbot-framework 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, LobeChat or ai-chatbot-framework?
Choose LobeChat if you want the larger community (83,716 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose ai-chatbot-framework if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.