head to head · open source
one-api vs mcp-context-forge
one-api has 36,932 GitHub stars, 6,867 forks, 1,036 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. mcp-context-forge has 4,487 stars, 870 forks, 912 open issues and last shipped yesterday. one-api leads on adoption by 723% (36,932 vs 4,487 stars). one-api is written in JavaScript under MIT; mcp-context-forge is written in Python under Apache-2.0. one-api has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, mcp-context-forge 19%. mcp-context-forge was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (api-gateway), 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 | mcp-context-forge | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-01-09 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 870 |
| 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 mcp-context-forge if
- You want the mcp-context-forge feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and mcp-context-forge 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 mcp-context-forge
ContextForge is an open source AI gateway, registry, and proxy for MCP, A2A, and REST/gRPC services. It sits in front of tools, agents, and APIs, and exposes one endpoint for AI clients. The project lives in the Python developer tools ecosystem, and it is licensed under Apache 2.0.
read the full mcp-context-forge overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is one-api or mcp-context-forge more popular?
one-api has 36,932 GitHub stars and mcp-context-forge has 4,487. one-api has the larger community by that measure.
Are one-api and mcp-context-forge free?
Both are open source. one-api is licensed under MIT and mcp-context-forge under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between one-api and mcp-context-forge?
one-api is written in JavaScript and mcp-context-forge in Python. 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 mcp-context-forge?
Choose one-api if you want the larger community (36,932 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose mcp-context-forge if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.