kotaemon alternatives
Short answer
We track 7 self-hosted alternatives to kotaemon: RAGFlow, AnythingLLM, PrivateGPT, Open Notebook, Onyx (formerly Danswer), FastGPT and MaxKB.
RAGFlow (same category): larger community (92.7k vs 25.8k GitHub stars).
AnythingLLM (same category): larger community (67.5k vs 25.8k GitHub stars).
PrivateGPT (same category): larger community (57.6k vs 25.8k GitHub stars).
Last updated · how we rank · sources
kotaemon alternatives compared
| # | App | Advantages over kotaemon | Est. server cost | Official hardware | License | Stars | Last commit | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | kotaemon (this app) | Active | not estimated (no official RAM figure) | not published | Apache-2.0 | 25.8k | May 30, 2026 | — |
| 1 | RAGFlow Same category | larger community (92.7k vs 25.8k GitHub stars) Trade-off: kotaemon has simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack) | from €69.99/mo | recommended 4 vCPU · 16 GB RAM · 50 GB disk (no separate minimum published) | Apache-2.0 | 92.7k | Oct 23, 2026 | kotaemon vs RAGFlow |
| 2 | AnythingLLM Same category | larger community (67.5k vs 25.8k GitHub stars) | from €19.99/mo | minimum 2 vCPU · 2 GB RAM · 5 GB disk | MIT | 67.5k | Oct 23, 2026 | kotaemon vs AnythingLLM |
| 3 | PrivateGPT Same category | larger community (57.6k vs 25.8k GitHub stars) | not estimated (no official RAM figure) | not published | Apache-2.0 | 57.6k | Oct 20, 2026 | kotaemon vs PrivateGPT |
| 4 | Open Notebook Same category | larger community (40.5k vs 25.8k GitHub stars) Trade-off: kotaemon has simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack) | from €19.99/mo | minimum 4 GB RAM | MIT | 40.5k | Oct 5, 2026 | kotaemon vs Open Notebook |
| 5 | Onyx (formerly Danswer) Same category | None in our data (differs in features) Trade-off: kotaemon has fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Open core); simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack) | from €69.99/mo | minimum 4 vCPU · 10 GB RAM · 32 GB disk (recommended 8 vCPU · 16 GB RAM · 500 GB disk) | MIT (Community Edition) + Onyx Enterprise License (ee directories) | 32.9k | Oct 23, 2026 | kotaemon vs Onyx (formerly Danswer) |
| 6 | FastGPT Same category | None in our data (differs in features) Trade-off: kotaemon has fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Custom / conditional); simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack) | from €19.99/mo | minimum 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM (recommended 2 vCPU · 8 GB RAM) | FastGPT Open Source License (Apache-2.0 with conditions) | 29.9k | Oct 23, 2026 | kotaemon vs FastGPT |
| 7 | MaxKB Same category | None in our data (differs in features) Trade-off: kotaemon has fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Copyleft (GPL)) | from €35.99/mo | minimum 4 vCPU · 8 GB RAM · 100 GB disk | GPL-3.0 | 23.0k | Oct 21, 2026 | kotaemon vs MaxKB |
Ranked by the number of objective advantages each alternative has over the app (cheaper estimated server cost, lighter official RAM figure, no GPU needed, fewer license conditions, better maintenance status, at least 1.5× the GitHub stars, simpler deploy). Ties: same-category apps first, then more GitHub stars. License order used: Permissive (MIT/Apache) → Open core → Copyleft (GPL) or Custom conditions → Network copyleft (AGPL) → Source-available. Archived projects are not listed as alternatives.
What each alternative is
- RAGFlow (Knowledge base & RAG): RAG engine with deep document parsing (OCR, layout and tables) and cited answers.
- AnythingLLM (Knowledge base & RAG): All-in-one private chat with your documents, agents and an embeddable widget.
- PrivateGPT (Knowledge base & RAG): API-first private document Q&A that sits on top of your own LLM server.
- Open Notebook (Knowledge base & RAG): Private, self-hosted alternative to Google NotebookLM with your choice of AI models.
- Onyx (formerly Danswer) (Knowledge base & RAG): AI chat and enterprise search connected to 50+ workplace apps.
- FastGPT (Knowledge base & RAG): Knowledge-base Q&A and visual AI workflow platform.
- MaxKB (Knowledge base & RAG): Enterprise knowledge-base and agent platform with RAG and workflows.
kotaemon alternatives: FAQ
What is the best self-hosted alternative to kotaemon?
By our objective ranking: 1. RAGFlow (larger community (92.7k vs 25.8k GitHub stars)) 2. AnythingLLM (larger community (67.5k vs 25.8k GitHub stars)) 3. PrivateGPT (larger community (57.6k vs 25.8k GitHub stars)). "Best" depends on the features you need; the ranking only counts cost, hardware, license, maintenance, community size and deploy complexity.
Is there a cheaper alternative to kotaemon?
Not by our estimate. kotaemon: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Alternatives: RAGFlow (from €69.99/mo), AnythingLLM (from €19.99/mo), PrivateGPT (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), Open Notebook (from €19.99/mo), Onyx (formerly Danswer) (from €69.99/mo), FastGPT (from €19.99/mo), MaxKB (from €35.99/mo).
Which kotaemon alternative has the most permissive license?
None has fewer conditions than kotaemon (Apache-2.0 (Permissive)). Alternatives: RAGFlow: Apache-2.0 (Permissive); AnythingLLM: MIT (Permissive); PrivateGPT: Apache-2.0 (Permissive); Open Notebook: MIT (Permissive); Onyx (formerly Danswer): MIT (Community Edition) + Onyx Enterprise License (ee directories) (Open core); FastGPT: FastGPT Open Source License (Apache-2.0 with conditions) (Custom / conditional); MaxKB: GPL-3.0 (Copyleft (GPL)). Not legal advice.
Related
Sources
- kotaemon GitHub repository: github.com/Cinnamon/kotaemon
- kotaemon documentation: cinnamon.github.io/kotaemon/
- kotaemon license: github.com/Cinnamon/kotaemon/blob/main/LICENSE.txt
- kotaemon hardware requirements, kotaemon deploy instructions: github.com/Cinnamon/kotaemon#readme
- RAGFlow GitHub repository: github.com/infiniflow/ragflow
- AnythingLLM GitHub repository: github.com/Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm
- PrivateGPT GitHub repository: github.com/zylon-ai/private-gpt
- Open Notebook GitHub repository: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook
- Onyx (formerly Danswer) GitHub repository: github.com/onyx-dot-app/onyx
- FastGPT GitHub repository: github.com/labring/FastGPT
- MaxKB GitHub repository: github.com/1Panel-dev/MaxKB
- Hetzner Cloud pricing used for cost estimates (read 2026-10-22): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
- GitHub stars and commits: GitHub REST API, refreshed daily