head to head · open source
LobeChat vs aichat
LobeChat has 83,716 GitHub stars, 16,033 forks, 922 open issues and last shipped yesterday. aichat has 10,536 stars, 747 forks, 104 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. LobeChat leads on adoption by 695% (83,716 vs 10,536 stars). LobeChat is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; aichat is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. LobeChat has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, aichat 7%. LobeChat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (ai, claude, gemini), 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 | aichat | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 84K | ★ 11K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-02-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 16K | ⑂ 747 |
| 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 aichat if
- You want the aichat feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and aichat 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 aichat
AIChat: All in one LLM CLI Tool AIChat is an all in one LLM CLI tool featuring Shell Assistant, CMD & REPL Mode, RAG, AI Tools & Agents, and More. Install Package Managers Rust Developers: cargo install aichat Homebrew/Linuxbrew Users: brew install aichat Pacman Users : pacman S aichat Windows Scoop Users: scoop install aichat Android Termux Users: pkg install aichat Pre built Binaries Download pre built binaries for macOS, Linux, and Windows from GitHub Releases, extract them, and add the aichat binary to your $PATH . Features Multi Providers Integrate seamlessly with over 20 leading LLM providers through a…
read the full aichat overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is LobeChat or aichat more popular?
LobeChat has 83,716 GitHub stars and aichat has 10,536. LobeChat has the larger community by that measure.
Are LobeChat and aichat free?
Both are open source. LobeChat has no licence declared in this registry, and aichat is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between LobeChat and aichat?
LobeChat is written in TypeScript and aichat in Rust. 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 aichat?
Choose LobeChat if you want the larger community (83,716 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose aichat if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.