head to head · open source
nanobot vs Onyx
nanobot has 48,302 GitHub stars, 8,534 forks, 775 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Onyx has 32,149 stars, 4,478 forks, 451 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nanobot leads on adoption by 50% (48,302 vs 32,149 stars). nanobot is written in Python under MIT; Onyx is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence. nanobot has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, Onyx 14%. Onyx 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.
← all 13541 open source comparisons
Side by side
| nanobot | Onyx | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 32K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.5K | ⑂ 4.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nanobot if
- You weight community size — 48K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Onyx if
- You want the Onyx feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Onyx fits your workflow better
About nanobot
nanobot is an ultra lightweight, open source, self hosted personal AI agent framework written in Python, aimed at individual developers and small teams who want to run their own agent through a browser WebUI, a terminal, or chat apps instead of renting a hosted assistant.
read the full nanobot overview →
About Onyx
Onyx is an open source AI application layer that gives teams a self hostable chat interface with retrieval augmented generation over their own company data and more than 50 indexing connectors.
More in AI & Machine Learning
Related comparisons
More AI Interaction & Interfaces projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the AI Interaction & Interfaces field.
Frequently asked questions
Is nanobot or Onyx more popular?
nanobot has 48,302 GitHub stars and Onyx has 32,149. nanobot has the larger community by that measure.
Are nanobot and Onyx free?
Both are open source. nanobot is licensed under MIT, and Onyx has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between nanobot and Onyx?
nanobot is written in Python and Onyx 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, nanobot or Onyx?
Choose nanobot if you want the larger community (48,302 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Onyx if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.