head to head · open source
LocalAI vs selfhost-ai
LocalAI has 49,179 GitHub stars, 4,458 forks, 201 open issues and last shipped today. selfhost-ai has 933 stars, 236 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. LocalAI leads on adoption by 5,171% (49,179 vs 933 stars). LocalAI is written in Go under MIT; selfhost-ai is written in Shell under Apache-2.0. LocalAI has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, selfhost-ai 25%. LocalAI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (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 | selfhost-ai | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 49K | ★ 933 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.5K | ⑂ 236 |
| 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 selfhost-ai if
- You want the selfhost-ai feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and selfhost-ai 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 selfhost-ai
Selfhost AI is an Apache 2.0 licensed Docker Compose template that stands up a private, self hosted AI and automation stack — n8n, Ollama, Flowise, vector databases, Supabase and more than thirty other tools — behind a Caddy reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS, built for homelab operators, small engineering teams and anyone who wants Zapier, Make and ChatGPT class capability without renting it.
read the full selfhost-ai overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is LocalAI or selfhost-ai more popular?
LocalAI has 49,179 GitHub stars and selfhost-ai has 933. LocalAI has the larger community by that measure.
Are LocalAI and selfhost-ai free?
Both are open source. LocalAI is licensed under MIT and selfhost-ai under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between LocalAI and selfhost-ai?
LocalAI is written in Go and selfhost-ai in Shell. 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 selfhost-ai?
Choose LocalAI if you want the larger community (49,179 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose selfhost-ai if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.