head to head · open source
vllm vs OpenLIT
vllm has 96,158 GitHub stars, 24,317 forks, 7,953 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenLIT has 2,899 stars, 455 forks, 60 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vllm leads on adoption by 3,217% (96,158 vs 2,899 stars). vllm is written in Python under Apache-2.0; OpenLIT is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. vllm has attracted 25% as many forks as stars, OpenLIT 16%. vllm 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
| vllm | OpenLIT | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 24K | ⑂ 455 |
| 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 OpenLIT if
- You want the OpenLIT feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and OpenLIT 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 OpenLIT
Open source observability & evaluation for AI agents Trace, evaluate, debug, and optimize AI applications and coding agents with OpenTelemetry. ⭐ Star 🚀 Quickstart 📚 Docs Documentation · Quickstart · Examples · Join Slack See what your AI agents are actually doing AI applications are no longer just LLM calls. A production agent can involve: OpenLIT gives you visibility across the entire workflow. Trace every LLM call, tool invocation, prompt, agent step, token, cost, error, and evaluation — using OpenTelemetry. ⚡ Get started in 5 minutes 1. Start OpenLIT Open: 2. Install the SDK Python: TypeScript: 3…
read the full OpenLIT overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vllm or OpenLIT more popular?
vllm has 96,158 GitHub stars and OpenLIT has 2,899. vllm has the larger community by that measure.
Are vllm and OpenLIT free?
Both are open source. vllm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OpenLIT under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vllm and OpenLIT ?
vllm is written in Python and OpenLIT in TypeScript. 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 OpenLIT ?
Choose vllm if you want the larger community (96,158 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose OpenLIT if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.