head to head · open source
one-api vs elements
one-api has 36,940 GitHub stars, 6,867 forks, 1,036 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. elements has 2,464 stars, 260 forks, 276 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. one-api leads on adoption by 1,399% (36,940 vs 2,464 stars). one-api is written in JavaScript under MIT; elements is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. one-api has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, elements 11%. elements was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (api), 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
| one-api | elements | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-01-09 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 260 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick one-api if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick elements if
- You want the elements 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 elements fits your workflow better
About one-api
One API is a self hosted LLM API management and key redistribution system that exposes many model providers through the standard OpenAI API format, aimed at developers, teams and operators who want a single endpoint, a single key model and a single quota surface across providers.
read the full one-api overview →
About elements
[ ][elements landing page] [![CircleCI][circle ci image]][circle ci] [![NPM Downloads][circle ci image]][npm] [ ][stoplight forest] Beautiful API documentation powered by OpenAPI and Markdown. Use these UI components to create API reference documentation, or more complete documentation with Markdown articles covering tutorials, how to guides, etc. Available as React Components, or Web Components, you can use Elements all together to build beautiful three column "Stripe esque" documentation, or stacked documentation thats easier for integrating into existing Content Management Systems with their own navigation. Ov…
read the full elements overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is one-api or elements more popular?
one-api has 36,940 GitHub stars and elements has 2,464. one-api has the larger community by that measure.
Are one-api and elements free?
Both are open source. one-api is licensed under MIT and elements under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between one-api and elements?
one-api is written in JavaScript and elements 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, one-api or elements?
Choose one-api if you want the larger community (36,940 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose elements if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.