head to head · open source
MaxKB vs vellum-assistant
MaxKB has 22,843 GitHub stars, 3,156 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped today. vellum-assistant has 1,292 stars, 187 forks, 179 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MaxKB leads on adoption by 1,668% (22,843 vs 1,292 stars). MaxKB is written in Python under GPL-3.0; vellum-assistant is written in TypeScript under MIT. MaxKB has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, vellum-assistant 14%. MaxKB was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (agent, agentic-ai), 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
| MaxKB | vellum-assistant | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 187 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick MaxKB if
- You weight community size — 23K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick vellum-assistant if
- You want the vellum-assistant feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and vellum-assistant fits your workflow better
About MaxKB
MaxKB is an open source Python platform for building enterprise grade agents in the AI and machine learning ecosystem. It combines a web interface, LangChain based retrieval augmented generation, workflow orchestration, and MCP tool use so organizations can connect large language models to their own documents, systems, and business processes. The project is positioned as a knowledge brain deployed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
read the full MaxKB overview →
About vellum-assistant
Vellum Assistant is an MIT licensed, TypeScript personal AI assistant for individuals and small teams who want a persistent, self improving agent that runs across desktop, mobile, web, voice, email, Telegram, Slack and Twilio without building the memory and orchestration layer themselves.
read the full vellum-assistant overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is MaxKB or vellum-assistant more popular?
MaxKB has 22,843 GitHub stars and vellum-assistant has 1,292. MaxKB has the larger community by that measure.
Are MaxKB and vellum-assistant free?
Both are open source. MaxKB is licensed under GPL-3.0 and vellum-assistant under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between MaxKB and vellum-assistant?
MaxKB is written in Python and vellum-assistant 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, MaxKB or vellum-assistant?
Choose MaxKB if you want the larger community (22,843 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose vellum-assistant if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.