head to head · open source
nanobot vs venom
nanobot has 48,372 GitHub stars, 8,548 forks, 775 open issues and last shipped today. venom has 6,582 stars, 1,329 forks, 62 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. nanobot leads on adoption by 635% (48,372 vs 6,582 stars). nanobot is written in Python under MIT; venom is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. nanobot has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, venom 20%. nanobot 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 | venom | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 6.6K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.5K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| 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 venom if
- You want the venom feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and venom 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 venom
Venom is an Apache 2.0 TypeScript framework that drives WhatsApp Web through Puppeteer, giving JavaScript and TypeScript developers a programmatic API for chatbots, customer service flows and message automation.
read the full venom overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nanobot or venom more popular?
nanobot has 48,372 GitHub stars and venom has 6,582. nanobot has the larger community by that measure.
Are nanobot and venom free?
Both are open source. nanobot is licensed under MIT and venom under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nanobot and venom?
nanobot is written in Python and venom 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 venom?
Choose nanobot if you want the larger community (48,372 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose venom if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.