head to head · open source
LocalAI vs neuron-ai
LocalAI has 50,187 GitHub stars, 4,574 forks, 201 open issues and last shipped yesterday. neuron-ai has 2,163 stars, 258 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. LocalAI leads on adoption by 2,220% (50,187 vs 2,163 stars). LocalAI is written in Go under MIT; neuron-ai is written in PHP under MIT. LocalAI has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, neuron-ai 12%. LocalAI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (agents, ai, llm), 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
| LocalAI | neuron-ai | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.6K | ⑂ 258 |
| 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 neuron-ai if
- You want the neuron-ai feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and neuron-ai 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 neuron-ai
Create Full Featured Agentic Applications in PHP [!IMPORTANT] Get early access to new features, exclusive tutorials, and expert tips for building AI agents in PHP. Join a community of PHP developers pioneering the future of AI development. Subscribe to the newsletter Before moving on, support the Neuron AI community giving a GitHub star ⭐️. Thank you! What is Neuron? Neuron is a PHP framework for creating and orchestrating AI Agents. It allows you to integrate AI entities into your PHP applications with a powerful and flexible architecture. We provide tools for the entire agentic application development…
read the full neuron-ai overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is LocalAI or neuron-ai more popular?
LocalAI has 50,187 GitHub stars and neuron-ai has 2,163. LocalAI has the larger community by that measure.
Are LocalAI and neuron-ai free?
Both are open source. LocalAI is licensed under MIT and neuron-ai under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between LocalAI and neuron-ai?
LocalAI is written in Go and neuron-ai in PHP. 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 neuron-ai?
Choose LocalAI if you want the larger community (50,187 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose neuron-ai if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.