head to head · open source
LocalAI vs envd
LocalAI has 49,179 GitHub stars, 4,458 forks, 201 open issues and last shipped today. envd has 2,230 stars, 168 forks, 139 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. LocalAI leads on adoption by 2,105% (49,179 vs 2,230 stars). LocalAI is written in Go under MIT; envd is written in Go under Apache-2.0. LocalAI has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, envd 8%. 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 | envd | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 49K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-07-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.5K | ⑂ 168 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LocalAI if
- You weight community size — 49K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick envd if
- You want the envd feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and envd fits your workflow better
About LocalAI
LocalAI is an open source AI runtime that enables running large language models (LLMs), vision, audio, image, and video models locally or on premises. It operates as a modular engine where each model type is backed by a dedicated, lightweight backend—such as llama.cpp, whisper.cpp, or stable diffusion—pulled only when needed. This composable architecture avoids bundling unnecessary dependencies, keeping the core minimal while supporting diverse modalities and hardware configurations.
read the full LocalAI overview →
About envd
envd is a command line tool for creating container based development environments for AI and machine learning work. It lives in the AI & Machine Learning / Machine Learning Infrastructure ecosystem and is written in Go under the Apache 2.0 license. The project is presented as a reproducible development environment for humans and agents, with topics such as buildkit, docker, llmops, mlops, model serving, code agent, and codex.
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Frequently asked questions
Is LocalAI or envd more popular?
LocalAI has 49,179 GitHub stars and envd has 2,230. LocalAI has the larger community by that measure.
Are LocalAI and envd free?
Both are open source. LocalAI is licensed under MIT and envd under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between LocalAI and envd?
LocalAI is written in Go and envd in Go. 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 envd?
Choose LocalAI if you want the larger community (49,179 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose envd if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.