head to head · open source
vllm vs gpustack
vllm has 96,158 GitHub stars, 24,317 forks, 7,953 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gpustack has 5,949 stars, 708 forks, 696 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vllm leads on adoption by 1,516% (96,158 vs 5,949 stars). vllm is written in Python under Apache-2.0; gpustack is written in Python under Apache-2.0. vllm has attracted 25% as many forks as stars, gpustack 12%. vllm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 6 topic tags (cuda, deepseek, inference, llama), 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 | gpustack | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 5.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 24K | ⑂ 708 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vllm if
- You weight community size — 96K 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 gpustack if
- You want the gpustack feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and gpustack 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 gpustack
English 简体中文 日本語 Overview GPUStack is an open source GPU cluster manager for AI model serving and GPU instance provisioning. It configures and orchestrates inference engines — vLLM, SGLang, TensorRT LLM, or your own — and lets you launch SSH accessible GPU instances on demand. Its core features include: Multi Cluster GPU Management. Manages GPU clusters across multiple environments. This includes on premises servers, Kubernetes clusters, and cloud providers. Pluggable Inference Engines. Automatically configures high performance inference engines such as vLLM, SGLang, and TensorRT LLM. You can also add custom…
read the full gpustack overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vllm or gpustack more popular?
vllm has 96,158 GitHub stars and gpustack has 5,949. vllm has the larger community by that measure.
Are vllm and gpustack free?
Both are open source. vllm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and gpustack under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vllm and gpustack?
vllm is written in Python and gpustack 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, vllm or gpustack?
Choose vllm if you want the larger community (96,158 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose gpustack if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.