head to head · open source
nanobot vs row-bot
nanobot has 49,806 GitHub stars, 8,711 forks, 775 open issues and last shipped yesterday. row-bot has 1,685 stars, 201 forks, 30 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. nanobot leads on adoption by 2,856% (49,806 vs 1,685 stars). nanobot is written in Python under MIT; row-bot is written in Python under Apache-2.0. nanobot has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, row-bot 12%. nanobot was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (local-llm), 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 | row-bot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.7K | ⑂ 201 |
| 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 row-bot if
- You want the row-bot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and row-bot 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 row-bot
Row Bot (formerly Thoth) Row Bot is a local first desktop AI assistant for doing real work with models, memory and tools. You talk to it in conversations; it remembers what matters in a local knowledge graph, works in the files, code folders, designs, workflows and channels you give it, delegates to focused agents, and asks before anything risky. It runs local models through Ollama, provider API keys, ChatGPT, Claude or Grok subscriptions, or any OpenAI compatible endpoint, and keeps your data on your machine. One React app serves the desktop window, browsers, phones and server mode. Features Conversations that…
read the full row-bot overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nanobot or row-bot more popular?
nanobot has 49,806 GitHub stars and row-bot has 1,685. nanobot has the larger community by that measure.
Are nanobot and row-bot free?
Both are open source. nanobot is licensed under MIT and row-bot under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nanobot and row-bot?
nanobot is written in Python and row-bot 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 row-bot?
Choose nanobot if you want the larger community (49,806 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose row-bot if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.