head to head · open source
MaxKB vs vellum-assistant
MaxKB has 23,110 GitHub stars, 3,211 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vellum-assistant has 1,474 stars, 230 forks, 179 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MaxKB leads on adoption by 1,468% (23,110 vs 1,474 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 16%. 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 | ★ 1.5K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 230 |
| 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
Open source platform for building enterprise grade agents 强大易用的企业级智能体平台 [ 中文(简体) ] [ English ] MaxKB = Max Knowledge Brain, it is an open source platform for building enterprise grade agents. MaxKB integrates Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, supports robust workflows, and provides advanced MCP tool use capabilities. MaxKB is widely applied in scenarios such as intelligent customer service, corporate internal knowledge bases, academic research, and education. RAG Pipeline : Supports direct uploading of documents / automatic crawling of online documents, with features for automatic text splitting…
read the full MaxKB overview →
About vellum-assistant
A personal AI assistant that evolves with you. 8 different types of memory (episodic, semantic, procedural, emotional, prospective, behavioral, narrative, shared) make it truly yours. It learns how you work, remembers what matters, and takes action across your apps. What It Does If you've set up a Personal AI on OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, or Claude Code, you know how long it takes, and how many times you have to hatch a new one to get it right. Vellum gets you the result you're looking for out of the box, one download away. Get Started 1. Sign up or download the app The desktop app is available for macOS and…
read the full vellum-assistant overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is MaxKB or vellum-assistant more popular?
MaxKB has 23,110 GitHub stars and vellum-assistant has 1,474. 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 (23,110 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.