head to head · open source
Tailcall vs gpt-load
Tailcall has 7,633 GitHub stars, 1,456 forks, 45 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. gpt-load has 7,199 stars, 798 forks, 21 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Tailcall leads on adoption by 6% (7,633 vs 7,199 stars). Tailcall is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; gpt-load is written in Go under MIT. Tailcall has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, gpt-load 11%. gpt-load 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
| Tailcall | gpt-load | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.6K | ★ 7.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 798 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Tailcall if
- You weight community size — 7.6K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick gpt-load if
- You want the gpt-load feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and gpt-load fits your workflow better
About Tailcall
⚒️ Forge: AI Enhanced Terminal Development Environment A comprehensive coding agent that integrates AI capabilities with your development environment curl fsSL sh Table of Contents Quickstart Usage Examples Why Forge? How Forge Works: Three Modes Interactive Mode (TUI) One Shot CLI Mode ZSH Plugin Mode ( : prefix) ZSH Plugin: The : Prefix System Agents Sending Prompts Attaching Files Conversation Management Git Integration Shell Command Tools Session & Configuration Skills Customizing Agent Behavior Semantic Search (Workspace) Quick Reference: All : Commands Command Line Options Advanced Configuration Provider…
read the full Tailcall overview →
About gpt-load
GPT Load A self hosted AI gateway for multi channel, multi credential setups API keys, subscription accounts, traffic scheduling, failure handling, request logs, and usage accounting — behind a single entry point. English · 中文 · 日本語 Official Website Sponsors Become a sponsor Sponsor details (collapsible) OfoxAI: Text, image, and video AI in one platform OfoxAI is a unified AI API platform bringing together text, image, and video models from multiple providers. With OpenAI compatible endpoints and native Anthropic and Gemini interfaces, developers can access models for AI applications, agents, and content…
read the full gpt-load overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Tailcall or gpt-load more popular?
Tailcall has 7,633 GitHub stars and gpt-load has 7,199. Tailcall has the larger community by that measure.
Are Tailcall and gpt-load free?
Both are open source. Tailcall is licensed under Apache-2.0 and gpt-load under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Tailcall and gpt-load?
Tailcall is written in Rust and gpt-load 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, Tailcall or gpt-load?
Choose Tailcall if you want the larger community (7,633 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose gpt-load if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.