head to head · open source
odysseus vs Kai
odysseus has 87,371 GitHub stars, 907 forks, 1,233 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Kai has 1,253 stars, 182 forks, 127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. odysseus leads on adoption by 6,873% (87,371 vs 1,253 stars). odysseus is written in Python under AGPL-3.0; Kai is written in Kotlin under Apache-2.0. odysseus has attracted 1% as many forks as stars, Kai 15%. Kai 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 | Kai | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 87K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 907 | ⑂ 182 |
| 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 Kai if
- You want the Kai feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and Kai 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 Kai
Kai 9000 is an Apache 2.0 licensed, open source AI assistant written in Kotlin that runs with persistent memory across Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, and the web, built for people who want a personal assistant that keeps its context and works on their own devices.
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Frequently asked questions
Is odysseus or Kai more popular?
odysseus has 87,371 GitHub stars and Kai has 1,253. odysseus has the larger community by that measure.
Are odysseus and Kai free?
Both are open source. odysseus is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Kai under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between odysseus and Kai?
odysseus is written in Python and Kai in Kotlin. 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 Kai?
Choose odysseus if you want the larger community (87,371 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Kai if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.