head to head · open source
nanobot vs Jan
nanobot has 49,734 GitHub stars, 8,706 forks, 775 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Jan has 45,270 stars, 3,130 forks, 521 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nanobot leads on adoption by 10% (49,734 vs 45,270 stars). nanobot is written in Python under MIT; Jan is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence. nanobot has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, Jan 7%. Jan 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
| nanobot | Jan | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 45K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.7K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nanobot if
- You weight community size — 50K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Jan if
- You want the Jan feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Jan fits your workflow better
About nanobot
English 简体中文 繁體中文 Español Français Bahasa Indonesia 日本語 한국어 Русский Tiếng Việt Discord · X · WeChat / Feishu nanobot 🐈 nanobot is an ultra lightweight, open source, self hosted personal AI agent framework written in Python. It runs in a WebUI, terminal, or chat apps and combines tools, long term memory, MCP integrations, model routing, multi agent delegation, scheduled automation, and an OpenAI compatible API in a small, readable core. Start Here What can nanobot do? nanobot is a self hosted personal AI agent runtime. It can: run in a browser WebUI or terminal connect to Telegram, Discord, Slack, WeChat, Email…
read the full nanobot overview →
About Jan
Jan Open source ChatGPT replacement English · 中文 · 日本語 Getting Started Community Changelog Bug reports Jan is bringing the best of open source AI in an easy to use product. Download and run LLMs with full control and privacy . Installation The easiest way to get started is by downloading one of the following versions for your respective operating system: Platform Download Windows jan.exe macOS jan.dmg Linux (deb) jan.deb Linux (AppImage) jan.AppImage Linux (Arm64) How to Download from jan.ai or GitHub Releases. Features Local AI Models : Download and run LLMs (Llama, Gemma, Qwen, GPT oss etc.) from HuggingFace…
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Frequently asked questions
Is nanobot or Jan more popular?
nanobot has 49,734 GitHub stars and Jan has 45,270. nanobot has the larger community by that measure.
Are nanobot and Jan free?
Both are open source. nanobot is licensed under MIT, and Jan has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between nanobot and Jan?
nanobot is written in Python and Jan in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, nanobot or Jan?
Choose nanobot if you want the larger community (49,734 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Jan if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.