head to head · open source
llama_index vs server
llama_index has 52,237 GitHub stars, 8,178 forks, 770 open issues and last shipped yesterday. server has 8,250 stars, 2,105 forks, 495 open issues and last shipped yesterday. llama_index leads on adoption by 533% (52,237 vs 8,250 stars). llama_index is written in Python under MIT; server is written in C++ under GPL-2.0. llama_index has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, server 26%. server 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
| llama_index | server | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 8.3K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.2K | ⑂ 2.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick llama_index if
- You weight community size — 52K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick server if
- You want the server feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and server fits your workflow better
About llama_index
LlamaIndex is an MIT licensed, open source Python framework for building agentic applications — retrieval augmented generation systems, agents and multi agent workflows — on top of private documents and data, and it is aimed at AI engineers and teams who need to connect large language models to their own sources of context.
read the full llama_index overview →
About server
MariaDB Server is a community developed, GPL 2.0 relational database server forked from MySQL by the original MySQL developers, aimed at teams that want MySQL compatibility with a sanely licensed, independently governed SQL server.
read the full server overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is llama_index or server more popular?
llama_index has 52,237 GitHub stars and server has 8,250. llama_index has the larger community by that measure.
Are llama_index and server free?
Both are open source. llama_index is licensed under MIT and server under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between llama_index and server?
llama_index is written in Python and server in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, llama_index or server?
Choose llama_index if you want the larger community (52,237 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose server if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.