head to head · open source
nanobot vs MaxKB
nanobot has 48,302 GitHub stars, 8,534 forks, 775 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MaxKB has 22,825 stars, 3,156 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped today. nanobot leads on adoption by 112% (48,302 vs 22,825 stars). nanobot is written in Python under MIT; MaxKB is written in Python under GPL-3.0. nanobot has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, MaxKB 14%. MaxKB was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | MaxKB | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 23K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.5K | ⑂ 3.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nanobot if
- You weight community size — 48K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick MaxKB if
- You want the MaxKB feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and MaxKB fits your workflow better
About nanobot
nanobot is an ultra lightweight, open source, self hosted personal AI agent framework written in Python, aimed at individual developers and small teams who want to run their own agent through a browser WebUI, a terminal, or chat apps instead of renting a hosted assistant.
read the full nanobot overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nanobot or MaxKB more popular?
nanobot has 48,302 GitHub stars and MaxKB has 22,825. nanobot has the larger community by that measure.
Are nanobot and MaxKB free?
Both are open source. nanobot is licensed under MIT and MaxKB under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nanobot and MaxKB?
nanobot is written in Python and MaxKB in Python. 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 MaxKB?
Choose nanobot if you want the larger community (48,302 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose MaxKB if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.