head to head · open source
nanobot vs Leon
nanobot has 49,766 GitHub stars, 8,713 forks, 775 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Leon has 17,629 stars, 1,479 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nanobot leads on adoption by 182% (49,766 vs 17,629 stars). nanobot is written in Python under MIT; Leon is written in TypeScript under MIT. nanobot has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, Leon 8%. Leon was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-agent, chatbot), 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
| nanobot | Leon | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 18K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.7K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| 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 Leon if
- You want the Leon feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Leon 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 Leon
Leon Your open source personal AI assistant. I share Leon progress most regularly on X / @grenlouis Follow progress on X / @grenlouis · Website · Newsletter · Roadmap · Story ⚠️ Important Notice (as of 2026 03 29) [!IMPORTANT] Leon is currently focused on the 2.0 Developer Preview on the develop branch. The new documentation is not ready yet . The current docs site and older guides mostly reflect the legacy architecture. If you want the legacy, more stable pre agentic version of Leon, use the master branch. If you want to explore or contribute to Leon's new core, develop is the right place. The most accurate…
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Frequently asked questions
Is nanobot or Leon more popular?
nanobot has 49,766 GitHub stars and Leon has 17,629. nanobot has the larger community by that measure.
Are nanobot and Leon free?
Both are open source. nanobot is licensed under MIT and Leon under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nanobot and Leon?
nanobot is written in Python and Leon 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, nanobot or Leon?
Choose nanobot if you want the larger community (49,766 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Leon if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.