head to head · open source
odysseus vs Jan
odysseus has 87,357 GitHub stars, 903 forks, 1,233 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Jan has 44,516 stars, 3,032 forks, 521 open issues and last shipped yesterday. odysseus leads on adoption by 96% (87,357 vs 44,516 stars). odysseus is written in Python under AGPL-3.0; Jan is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. odysseus has attracted 1% as many forks as stars, Jan 7%. Jan 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
| odysseus | Jan | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 87K | ★ 45K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 903 | ⑂ 3.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick odysseus if
- You weight community size — 87K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Jan if
- You want the Jan feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Jan fits your workflow better
About odysseus
Odysseus is a self hosted AI workspace written in Python and released under the AGPL 3.0 or later licence, built for people who want chat, agents, research, documents, email, notes, tasks, and calendar in one deployment on infrastructure they control.
read the full odysseus overview →
About Jan
Jan is an open source desktop application that serves as a ChatGPT replacement, enabling users to run large language models (LLMs) locally on their machines or connect to cloud based providers like OpenAI and Anthropic. It is built with Tauri, TypeScript, and integrates llama.cpp for efficient local inference, targeting privacy conscious users who want full control over their AI workflows without sending data to third parties.
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Frequently asked questions
Is odysseus or Jan more popular?
odysseus has 87,357 GitHub stars and Jan has 44,516. odysseus has the larger community by that measure.
Are odysseus and Jan free?
Both are open source. odysseus is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and Jan has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between odysseus and Jan?
odysseus is written in Python and Jan 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, odysseus or Jan?
Choose odysseus if you want the larger community (87,357 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Jan if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.