head to head · open source
nanobot vs Onyx
nanobot has 49,766 GitHub stars, 8,713 forks, 775 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Onyx has 33,170 stars, 4,692 forks, 451 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nanobot leads on adoption by 50% (49,766 vs 33,170 stars). nanobot is written in Python under MIT; Onyx is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence. nanobot has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, Onyx 14%. Onyx 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 | Onyx | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 33K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.7K | ⑂ 4.7K |
| 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 Onyx if
- You want the Onyx feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Onyx 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 Onyx
Onyx The Open Source AI Platform Onyx is the application layer for LLMs bringing a feature rich interface that can be easily hosted by anyone. Onyx enables LLMs through advanced capabilities like RAG, web search, code execution, file creation, deep research and more. Connect your applications with over 50+ indexing based connectors provided out of the box or via MCP. [!TIP] Deploy with a single command: ⭐ Features 🔍 Agentic RAG: Get best in class search and answer quality based on hybrid index + AI Agents for information retrieval Benchmark to release soon! 🔬 Deep Research: Get in depth reports with a multi…
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Frequently asked questions
Is nanobot or Onyx more popular?
nanobot has 49,766 GitHub stars and Onyx has 33,170. nanobot has the larger community by that measure.
Are nanobot and Onyx free?
Both are open source. nanobot is licensed under MIT, and Onyx has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between nanobot and Onyx?
nanobot is written in Python and Onyx 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 Onyx?
Choose nanobot if you want the larger community (49,766 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Onyx if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.