head to head · open source
PageIndex vs rag_api
PageIndex has 39,973 GitHub stars, 3,442 forks, 103 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. rag_api has 920 stars, 413 forks, 45 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. PageIndex leads on adoption by 4,245% (39,973 vs 920 stars). PageIndex is written in Python under MIT; rag_api is written in Python under MIT. PageIndex has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, rag_api 45%. PageIndex was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (rag, vector-database), 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
| PageIndex | rag_api | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 920 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-10-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 413 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PageIndex if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick rag_api if
- You want the rag_api feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and rag_api fits your workflow better
About PageIndex
PageIndex: Vectorless, Reasoning based RAG Reasoning based RAG ◦ No Vector DB, No Chunking ◦ Context Aware Retrieval ◦ Reads Like a Human 🌐 Website • ☁️ Cloud • 📖 Docs • 📝 Blog • ✉️ Contact Updates [Aug '26] 🔥 PageIndex SDK : pip install U pageindex now ships local mode : index, retrieve, and chat entirely on your machine with your own LLM key, or point the same client at PageIndex Cloud with an API key. [Aug '26] ⚡ PageIndex Flash : fast tree index generation for text based PDFs, now the default indexing method in PageIndex SDK local mode. Scale PageIndex to Millions of Documents: PageIndex File System is a…
read the full PageIndex overview →
About rag_api
ID based RAG FastAPI Overview This project integrates Langchain with FastAPI in an Asynchronous, Scalable manner, providing a framework for document indexing and retrieval, using PostgreSQL/pgvector. Files are organized into embeddings by file id . The primary use case is for integration with LibreChat, but this simple API can be used for any ID based use case. The main reason to use the ID approach is to work with embeddings on a file level. This makes for targeted queries when combined with file metadata stored in a database, such as is done by LibreChat. The API will evolve over time to employ different…
read the full rag_api overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is PageIndex or rag_api more popular?
PageIndex has 39,973 GitHub stars and rag_api has 920. PageIndex has the larger community by that measure.
Are PageIndex and rag_api free?
Both are open source. PageIndex is licensed under MIT and rag_api under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between PageIndex and rag_api?
PageIndex is written in Python and rag_api 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, PageIndex or rag_api?
Choose PageIndex if you want the larger community (39,973 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose rag_api if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.