head to head · open source
Onyx vs Swirl Search
Onyx has 33,195 GitHub stars, 4,696 forks, 451 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Swirl Search has 3,050 stars, 292 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. Onyx leads on adoption by 988% (33,195 vs 3,050 stars). Onyx is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Swirl Search is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Onyx has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, Swirl Search 10%. Onyx was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (python, rag), 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
| Onyx | Swirl Search | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 3.0K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.7K | ⑂ 292 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Onyx if
- You weight community size — 33K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Swirl Search if
- You want the Swirl Search 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 Swirl Search fits your workflow better
About Onyx
Onyx The Open Source AI Platform Onyx is the application layer for LLMs bringing a feature rich interface that can be easily hosted by anyone. Onyx enables LLMs through advanced capabilities like RAG, web search, code execution, file creation, deep research and more. Connect your applications with over 50+ indexing based connectors provided out of the box or via MCP. [!TIP] Deploy with a single command: ⭐ Features 🔍 Agentic RAG: Get best in class search and answer quality based on hybrid index + AI Agents for information retrieval Benchmark to release soon! 🔬 Deep Research: Get in depth reports with a multi…
About Swirl Search
SWIRL Community Federated AI search and RAG across your stack, without moving your data Ask a question. SWIRL searches your apps live, ranks the results, and returns an answer with sources you can click through to. Data stays where it lives. No vector database, no ETL, no second copy to govern. Open source, Apache 2.0, running on your machine in about two minutes. ⚡ Quick Start · 🧱 What you get · 🆚 Community vs Enterprise · 🔌 Connectors · 🤝 Contribute This repository is SWIRL Community , Apache 2.0 and free to self host. There is also SWIRL Enterprise , which adds a three pass reranker, canonical answers, an…
read the full Swirl Search overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Onyx or Swirl Search more popular?
Onyx has 33,195 GitHub stars and Swirl Search has 3,050. Onyx has the larger community by that measure.
Are Onyx and Swirl Search free?
Both are open source. Onyx has no licence declared in this registry, and Swirl Search is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Onyx and Swirl Search?
Onyx is written in Python and Swirl Search 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, Onyx or Swirl Search?
Choose Onyx if you want the larger community (33,195 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Swirl Search if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.