head to head · open source
vllm vs cortexdb
vllm has 96,888 GitHub stars, 24,794 forks, 7,953 open issues and last shipped today. cortexdb has 501 stars, 32 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped today. vllm leads on adoption by 19,239% (96,888 vs 501 stars). vllm is written in Python under Apache-2.0; cortexdb is written in Go under MIT. vllm has attracted 26% as many forks as stars, cortexdb 6%. vllm 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
| vllm | cortexdb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 97K | ★ 501 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-14 | 2026-11-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 32 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vllm if
- You weight community size — 97K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cortexdb if
- You want the cortexdb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and cortexdb fits your workflow better
About vllm
Easy, fast, and cheap LLM serving for everyone 🔥 We have built a vLLM website to help you get started with vLLM. Please visit vllm.ai to learn more. For events, please visit vllm.ai/events to join us. About vLLM is a fast and easy to use library for LLM inference and serving. Originally developed in the Sky Computing Lab at UC Berkeley, vLLM has grown into one of the most active open source AI projects built and maintained by a diverse community of many dozens of academic institutions and companies from over 2000 contributors. vLLM is fast with: State of the art serving throughput Efficient management of…
About cortexdb
CortexDB AI memory and a knowledge graph in one SQLite file. Pure Go, no service to run, works without an embedding model. Install Use The plugin gives Claude Code and Codex one global brain at /.cortexdb/cortexdb.db , /remember , /recall and an auto recall hook. A session starts with an index of what the brain knows about its project, an agent about to open a file is told what happened to it before, and a session's durable facts are captured with text and credentials kept out. Point several agents or machines at one cortexdb grpc and they share the same memory and graph. In Codex, review and trust the plugin…
read the full cortexdb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vllm or cortexdb more popular?
vllm has 96,888 GitHub stars and cortexdb has 501. vllm has the larger community by that measure.
Are vllm and cortexdb free?
Both are open source. vllm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and cortexdb under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vllm and cortexdb?
vllm is written in Python and cortexdb 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, vllm or cortexdb?
Choose vllm if you want the larger community (96,888 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose cortexdb if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.