head to head · open source
zvec vs RAGLight
zvec has 15,972 GitHub stars, 998 forks, 56 open issues and last shipped today. RAGLight has 673 stars, 102 forks, 22 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. zvec leads on adoption by 2,273% (15,972 vs 673 stars). zvec is written in C++ under Apache-2.0; RAGLight is written in Python under MIT. zvec has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, RAGLight 15%. zvec 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
| zvec | RAGLight | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 673 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 998 | ⑂ 102 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick zvec if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick RAGLight if
- You want the RAGLight feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and RAGLight fits your workflow better
About zvec
Zvec is an open source, in process vector database written in C++ and licensed under Apache 2.0, built to embed directly into applications so that vector search, full text search, and hybrid retrieval run inside the developer's own process instead of behind a separate service.
About RAGLight
RAGLight is a lightweight, modular Python library for building Retrieval Augmented Generation pipelines, aimed at developers who want to swap LLMs, embedding models, and vector stores without rewriting application code.
read the full RAGLight overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is zvec or RAGLight more popular?
zvec has 15,972 GitHub stars and RAGLight has 673. zvec has the larger community by that measure.
Are zvec and RAGLight free?
Both are open source. zvec is licensed under Apache-2.0 and RAGLight under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between zvec and RAGLight?
zvec is written in C++ and RAGLight 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, zvec or RAGLight?
Choose zvec if you want the larger community (15,972 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose RAGLight if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.