head to head · open source
vllm vs selfhost-ai
vllm has 96,158 GitHub stars, 24,317 forks, 7,953 open issues and last shipped yesterday. selfhost-ai has 953 stars, 238 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. vllm leads on adoption by 9,990% (96,158 vs 953 stars). vllm is written in Python under Apache-2.0; selfhost-ai is written in Shell under Apache-2.0. vllm has attracted 25% as many forks as stars, selfhost-ai 25%. 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 | selfhost-ai | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 953 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 24K | ⑂ 238 |
| 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 selfhost-ai if
- You want the selfhost-ai feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and selfhost-ai 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 selfhost-ai
Selfhost AI — Self Hosted AI Automation Platform Deploy 30+ AI and automation tools with a single command. This open source Docker Compose template creates a complete self hosted environment with n8n (workflow automation), Flowise (AI agents), Ollama (local LLMs), vector databases (Qdrant, Weaviate), RAG engines, Supabase, monitoring stack, and more — all pre configured behind Caddy reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS. Plus, optionally import 300+ community workflows during setup! Table of Contents Key Features Why This Setup? What's Included Installation Quick Start and Usage Upgrading Quick Commands…
read the full selfhost-ai overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vllm or selfhost-ai more popular?
vllm has 96,158 GitHub stars and selfhost-ai has 953. vllm has the larger community by that measure.
Are vllm and selfhost-ai free?
Both are open source. vllm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and selfhost-ai under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vllm and selfhost-ai?
vllm is written in Python and selfhost-ai in Shell. 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 selfhost-ai?
Choose vllm if you want the larger community (96,158 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose selfhost-ai if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.