head to head · open source
odysseus vs Zola
odysseus has 87,371 GitHub stars, 907 forks, 1,233 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Zola has 1,530 stars, 295 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped 9 months ago. odysseus leads on adoption by 5,611% (87,371 vs 1,530 stars). odysseus is written in Python under AGPL-3.0; Zola is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. odysseus has attracted 1% as many forks as stars, Zola 19%. 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 | Zola | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 87K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2025-12-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 907 | ⑂ 295 |
| 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 Zola if
- You want the Zola 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 Zola 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 Zola
Zola is an open source TypeScript chat interface for multiple AI model providers. It lives in the AI interaction and interface ecosystem and gives users one chat surface for OpenAI, Mistral, Claude, Gemini, and local Ollama models. The project uses Apache 2.0 and is built with Next.js, prompt kit, shadcn/ui, Tailwind CSS, Vercel AI SDK, and Supabase.
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Frequently asked questions
Is odysseus or Zola more popular?
odysseus has 87,371 GitHub stars and Zola has 1,530. odysseus has the larger community by that measure.
Are odysseus and Zola free?
Both are open source. odysseus is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Zola under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between odysseus and Zola?
odysseus is written in Python and Zola 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 Zola?
Choose odysseus if you want the larger community (87,371 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Zola if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.