head to head · open source
RWKV-Runner vs agent-router
RWKV-Runner has 6,500 GitHub stars, 594 forks, 178 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. agent-router has 2,341 stars, 449 forks, 300 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. RWKV-Runner leads on adoption by 178% (6,500 vs 2,341 stars). RWKV-Runner is written in TypeScript under MIT; agent-router is written in Go under Apache-2.0. RWKV-Runner has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, agent-router 19%. RWKV-Runner was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (llm), 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
| RWKV-Runner | agent-router | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.5K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 594 | ⑂ 449 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick RWKV-Runner if
- You weight community size — 6.5K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick agent-router if
- You want the agent-router feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and agent-router fits your workflow better
About RWKV-Runner
RWKV Runner This project aims to eliminate the barriers of using large language models by automating everything for you. All you need is a lightweight executable program of just a few megabytes. Additionally, this project provides an interface compatible with the OpenAI API, which means that every ChatGPT client is an RWKV client. [![license][license image]][license url] [![release][release image]][release url] [![py version][py version image]][py version url] English 简体中文 日本語 Install [![Windows][Windows image]][Windows url] [![MacOS][MacOS image]][MacOS url] [![Linux][Linux image]][Linux url] FAQs Preview…
read the full RWKV-Runner overview →
About agent-router
The open source control plane for AI and agent traffic, powered by Envoy. An Agentic AI Foundation project. Formerly Envoy AI Gateway . Documentation · Quickstart · Blog · Release Notes · Talks Agent Router Agent Router gives application teams one consistent, OpenAI compatible API for every model and tool, from hosted providers to self hosted inference and MCP servers. Platform teams keep credentials, routing, quotas, failover, and usage attribution in one place, enforced by Envoy and Envoy Gateway. Agent Router controls. Envoy carries. Formerly Envoy AI Gateway Envoy AI Gateway is now Agent Router , an Agentic…
read the full agent-router overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is RWKV-Runner or agent-router more popular?
RWKV-Runner has 6,500 GitHub stars and agent-router has 2,341. RWKV-Runner has the larger community by that measure.
Are RWKV-Runner and agent-router free?
Both are open source. RWKV-Runner is licensed under MIT and agent-router under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between RWKV-Runner and agent-router?
RWKV-Runner is written in TypeScript and agent-router in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, RWKV-Runner or agent-router?
Choose RWKV-Runner if you want the larger community (6,500 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose agent-router if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.