head to head · open source
vllm vs zvec
vllm has 96,158 GitHub stars, 24,317 forks, 7,953 open issues and last shipped yesterday. zvec has 16,176 stars, 1,015 forks, 56 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vllm leads on adoption by 494% (96,158 vs 16,176 stars). vllm is written in Python under Apache-2.0; zvec is written in C++ under Apache-2.0. vllm has attracted 25% as many forks as stars, zvec 6%. 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 | zvec | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 16K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 24K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| 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 zvec if
- You want the zvec feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and zvec 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 zvec
English 中文 🚀 Quickstart 🏠 Home 📚 Docs 📊 Benchmarks 🔎 DeepWiki 🎮 Discord 🐦 X (Twitter) Zvec is an open source, in process vector database — lightweight, lightning fast, and designed to embed directly into applications. Battle tested within Alibaba Group, it delivers production grade, low latency and scalable similarity search with minimal setup. [!Important] 🚀 v0.7.0 (August 24, 2026) zvec grep ( zg ) : Local first workspace search that unifies ripgrep, BM25, and vector search behind one CLI — built for humans and AI agents. ReMe integration : zvec is now a file store backend in ReMe, the memory…
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Frequently asked questions
Is vllm or zvec more popular?
vllm has 96,158 GitHub stars and zvec has 16,176. vllm has the larger community by that measure.
Are vllm and zvec free?
Both are open source. vllm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and zvec under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vllm and zvec?
vllm is written in Python and zvec in C++. 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 zvec?
Choose vllm if you want the larger community (96,158 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose zvec if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.