head to head · open source
LocalAI vs dagster
LocalAI has 50,140 GitHub stars, 4,569 forks, 201 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dagster has 16,364 stars, 2,395 forks, 2,589 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. LocalAI leads on adoption by 206% (50,140 vs 16,364 stars). LocalAI is written in Go under MIT; dagster is written in Python under Apache-2.0. LocalAI has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, dagster 15%. LocalAI 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
| LocalAI | dagster | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 16K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.6K | ⑂ 2.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LocalAI if
- You weight community size — 50K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dagster if
- You want the dagster feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and dagster fits your workflow better
About LocalAI
Deutsch Español français 日本語 한국어 Português Русский 中文 LocalAI is the open source AI engine. Run any model LLMs, vision, voice, image, video on any hardware. No GPU required. A small core, not a bundle. Each backend wraps a best in class engine (llama.cpp, vLLM, whisper.cpp, stable diffusion, MLX...) in its own image, pulled only when a model needs it. You install nothing you don't use. Composable by design : backends are separate and pulled on demand, so you install only what your model needs Open and extensible : load any model, or build your own backend in any language against an open interface Drop in API…
read the full LocalAI overview →
About dagster
Dagster is a cloud native data pipeline orchestrator for the whole development lifecycle, with integrated lineage and observability, a declarative programming model, and best in class testability. It is designed for developing and maintaining data assets , such as tables, data sets, machine learning models, and reports. With Dagster, you declare—as Python functions—the data assets that you want to build. Dagster then helps you run your functions at the right time and keep your assets up to date. Here is an example of a graph of three assets defined in Python: The graph loaded into Dagster's web UI: Dagster is…
read the full dagster overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is LocalAI or dagster more popular?
LocalAI has 50,140 GitHub stars and dagster has 16,364. LocalAI has the larger community by that measure.
Are LocalAI and dagster free?
Both are open source. LocalAI is licensed under MIT and dagster under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between LocalAI and dagster?
LocalAI is written in Go and dagster in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, LocalAI or dagster?
Choose LocalAI if you want the larger community (50,140 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose dagster if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.