head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs MaxKB
OpenClaw has 393,664 GitHub stars, 82,735 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MaxKB has 23,089 stars, 3,208 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 1,605% (393,664 vs 23,089 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under MIT; MaxKB is written in Python under GPL-3.0. OpenClaw has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, MaxKB 14%. OpenClaw 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
| OpenClaw | MaxKB | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 394K | ★ 23K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 83K | ⑂ 3.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenClaw if
- You weight community size — 394K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick MaxKB if
- You want the MaxKB feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and MaxKB fits your workflow better
About OpenClaw
OpenClaw 🦞 — Your assistant, on your devices, in your chats OpenClaw is an open source AI assistant that runs on your own computer and meets you in the channels you already use: Discord, iMessage, Slack, Teams, Telegram, WhatsApp, and 20+ more, plus native apps for macOS, iOS, Android, Windows, and Linux. One Gateway runs it as a personal assistant on a laptop or as a shared team deployment; configuration is the only difference. Yours, with no catch. State, memory, and credentials live on your hardware. Models and agent harnesses (Claude, Codex, local models) are plugins you can swap without changing anything…
read the full OpenClaw overview →
About MaxKB
Open source platform for building enterprise grade agents 强大易用的企业级智能体平台 [ 中文(简体) ] [ English ] MaxKB = Max Knowledge Brain, it is an open source platform for building enterprise grade agents. MaxKB integrates Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, supports robust workflows, and provides advanced MCP tool use capabilities. MaxKB is widely applied in scenarios such as intelligent customer service, corporate internal knowledge bases, academic research, and education. RAG Pipeline : Supports direct uploading of documents / automatic crawling of online documents, with features for automatic text splitting…
read the full MaxKB overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or MaxKB more popular?
OpenClaw has 393,664 GitHub stars and MaxKB has 23,089. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and MaxKB free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw is licensed under MIT and MaxKB under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenClaw and MaxKB?
OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and MaxKB 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, OpenClaw or MaxKB?
Choose OpenClaw if you want the larger community (393,664 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose MaxKB if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.