head to head · open source
LobeChat vs k-dense-byok
LobeChat has 82,576 GitHub stars, 15,895 forks, 922 open issues and last shipped today. k-dense-byok has 1,235 stars, 151 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. LobeChat leads on adoption by 6,586% (82,576 vs 1,235 stars). LobeChat is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; k-dense-byok is written in TypeScript under MIT. LobeChat has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, k-dense-byok 12%. LobeChat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | k-dense-byok | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 83K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 16K | ⑂ 151 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LobeChat if
- You weight community size — 83K 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 k-dense-byok if
- You want the k-dense-byok feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and k-dense-byok fits your workflow better
About LobeChat
LobeHub is an open source platform for managing, building, and operating AI agent teams. It functions as a Chief Agent Operator (CAO), enabling users to organize, schedule, and monitor autonomous AI agents around the clock. The project lives in the AI interaction and interfaces ecosystem, integrating with major LLM providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, and Alibaba’s GLM series.
read the full LobeChat overview →
About k-dense-byok
K Dense BYOK 🎥 Webinar recording: Getting Started with K Dense BYOK An online walkthrough of installing Kady and running your first research task, with live Q&A. 👉 Watch the recording on YouTube Your own AI research assistant, running on your computer, powered by the accounts and API keys you choose. K Dense BYOK (Bring Your Own Keys) is a free, open source app that gives you Kady — an AI research assistant for scientists in any field. Describe a task in plain language — analyze this dataset , review my manuscript , search the literature , build this figure — and Kady works through it in a complete research wor…
read the full k-dense-byok overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is LobeChat or k-dense-byok more popular?
LobeChat has 82,576 GitHub stars and k-dense-byok has 1,235. LobeChat has the larger community by that measure.
Are LobeChat and k-dense-byok free?
Both are open source. LobeChat has no licence declared in this registry, and k-dense-byok is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between LobeChat and k-dense-byok?
LobeChat is written in TypeScript and k-dense-byok 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 k-dense-byok?
Choose LobeChat if you want the larger community (82,576 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose k-dense-byok if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.