head to head · open source
odysseus vs k-dense-byok
odysseus has 94,935 GitHub stars, 1,862 forks, 1,233 open issues and last shipped yesterday. k-dense-byok has 1,421 stars, 189 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. odysseus leads on adoption by 6,581% (94,935 vs 1,421 stars). odysseus is written in Python under AGPL-3.0; k-dense-byok is written in TypeScript under MIT. odysseus has attracted 2% as many forks as stars, k-dense-byok 13%. odysseus 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 | k-dense-byok | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 95K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 189 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick odysseus if
- You weight community size — 95K 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 k-dense-byok if
- You want the k-dense-byok feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and k-dense-byok fits your workflow better
About odysseus
A self hosted AI workspace for chat, agents, research, documents, email, notes, calendar, and local model workflows. Quick Start · Setup Guide · Contributing · Roadmap Quick Start dev is the default branch and gets the newest changes first. Use main if you want the more curated branch. Open when the containers are healthy. The first admin password is printed in docker compose logs odysseus . Native installs, GPU notes, Windows/macOS instructions, HTTPS, and configuration live in the setup guide. Features Chat + Agents — local/API models, tools, MCP, files, shell, skills, and memory. Cookbook — hardware aware…
read the full odysseus overview →
About k-dense-byok
K Dense BYOK 🎥 Webinar recording: Getting Started with K Dense BYOK An online walkthrough of installing Kady and running your first research task, with live Q&A. 👉 Watch the recording on YouTube Your own AI research assistant, running on your computer, powered by the accounts and API keys you choose. K Dense BYOK (Bring Your Own Keys) is a free, open source app that gives you Kady — an AI research assistant for scientists in any field. Describe a task in plain language — analyze this dataset , review my manuscript , search the literature , build this figure — and Kady works through it in a complete research…
read the full k-dense-byok overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is odysseus or k-dense-byok more popular?
odysseus has 94,935 GitHub stars and k-dense-byok has 1,421. odysseus has the larger community by that measure.
Are odysseus and k-dense-byok free?
Both are open source. odysseus is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and k-dense-byok under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between odysseus and k-dense-byok?
odysseus is written in Python and k-dense-byok 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 k-dense-byok?
Choose odysseus if you want the larger community (94,935 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose k-dense-byok if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.