Langchain-Chatchat alternatives

Short answer

We track 13 self-hosted alternatives to Langchain-Chatchat: AnythingLLM, RAGFlow, AFFiNE, kotaemon, MaxKB, PrivateGPT, Open Notebook, LightRAG, WeKnora, Onyx (formerly Danswer), FastGPT, DocsGPT and PipesHub.

Langchain-Chatchat has had no commit since Nov 10, 2025, which is one reason to look at alternatives.

AnythingLLM (same category): an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale), larger community (67.8k vs 38.7k GitHub stars) and simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack).

RAGFlow (same category): an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale) and larger community (93.2k vs 38.7k GitHub stars).

AFFiNE (same category): an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale) and larger community (74.0k vs 38.7k GitHub stars).

Last updated · how we rank · sources

Langchain-Chatchat alternatives compared

Self-hosted alternatives to Langchain-Chatchat, ranked
#AppAdvantages over Langchain-ChatchatEst. server costOfficial hardwareLicenseStarsLast commitCompare
—Langchain-Chatchat (this app)Stale (no commit in 180+ days)not estimated (no official RAM figure)not publishedApache-2.038.7kNov 10, 2025—
1 AnythingLLM
Same category
an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale); larger community (67.8k vs 38.7k GitHub stars); simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack) from €19.99/mo minimum 2 vCPU · 2 GB RAM · 5 GB disk MIT 67.8k Oct 30, 2026 Langchain-Chatchat vs AnythingLLM
2 RAGFlow
Same category
an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale); larger community (93.2k vs 38.7k GitHub stars) from €69.99/mo recommended 4 vCPU · 16 GB RAM · 50 GB disk (no separate minimum published) Apache-2.0 93.2k Oct 31, 2026 Langchain-Chatchat vs RAGFlow
3 AFFiNE
Same category
an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale); larger community (74.0k vs 38.7k GitHub stars)
Trade-off: Langchain-Chatchat has fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Open core)
from €35.99/mo recommended 4 vCPU · 2 GB RAM (no separate minimum published) MIT (Community Edition) with Enterprise Edition license for server code 74.0k Oct 27, 2026 Langchain-Chatchat vs AFFiNE
4 kotaemon
Same category
an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale); simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack) not estimated (no official RAM figure) not published Apache-2.0 25.8k May 30, 2026 Langchain-Chatchat vs kotaemon
5 MaxKB
Same category
an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale); simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack)
Trade-off: Langchain-Chatchat has fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Copyleft (GPL)); larger community (38.7k vs 23.1k GitHub stars)
from €35.99/mo minimum 4 vCPU · 8 GB RAM · 100 GB disk GPL-3.0 23.1k Oct 30, 2026 Langchain-Chatchat vs MaxKB
6 PrivateGPT
Same category
an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale) not estimated (no official RAM figure) not published Apache-2.0 57.6k Oct 29, 2026 Langchain-Chatchat vs PrivateGPT
7 Open Notebook
Same category
an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale) from €19.99/mo minimum 4 GB RAM MIT 41.0k Oct 5, 2026 Langchain-Chatchat vs Open Notebook
8 LightRAG
Same category
an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale) not estimated (no official RAM figure) not published MIT 40.4k Oct 14, 2026 Langchain-Chatchat vs LightRAG
9 WeKnora
Same category
an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale) from €35.99/mo recommended 4 vCPU · 8 GB RAM (no separate minimum published) MIT (with third-party components) 36.1k Oct 30, 2026 Langchain-Chatchat vs WeKnora
10 Onyx (formerly Danswer)
Same category
an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale)
Trade-off: Langchain-Chatchat has fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Open core)
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) 33.1k Oct 31, 2026 Langchain-Chatchat vs Onyx (formerly Danswer)
11 FastGPT
Same category
an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale)
Trade-off: Langchain-Chatchat has fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Custom / conditional)
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) 30.0k Oct 30, 2026 Langchain-Chatchat vs FastGPT
12 DocsGPT
Same category
an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale)
Trade-off: Langchain-Chatchat has larger community (38.7k vs 18.4k GitHub stars)
not estimated (no official RAM figure) not published MIT 18.4k Oct 30, 2026 Langchain-Chatchat vs DocsGPT
13 PipesHub
Same category
an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale)
Trade-off: Langchain-Chatchat has larger community (38.7k vs 3.9k GitHub stars)
from €35.99/mo minimum 8 GB RAM (recommended 16 GB RAM) Apache-2.0 3.9k Oct 31, 2026 Langchain-Chatchat vs PipesHub

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

  • AnythingLLM (Knowledge base & RAG): All-in-one private chat with your documents, agents and an embeddable widget.
  • RAGFlow (Knowledge base & RAG): RAG engine with deep document parsing (OCR, layout and tables) and cited answers.
  • AFFiNE (Knowledge base & RAG): Notion- and Miro-style workspace (docs, whiteboards, databases) with built-in AI, self-hostable with Docker.
  • kotaemon (Knowledge base & RAG): Open-source RAG web app for chatting with your documents, with citations and GraphRAG.
  • MaxKB (Knowledge base & RAG): Enterprise knowledge-base and agent platform with RAG and workflows.
  • 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.
  • LightRAG (Knowledge base & RAG): Graph-based RAG server that builds a knowledge graph from your documents, with a web UI and REST API.
  • WeKnora (Knowledge base & RAG): Tencent's open-source knowledge-base and agent platform with document parsing, RAG and team workspaces.
  • 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.
  • DocsGPT (Knowledge base & RAG): Open-source platform for AI agents and assistants that answer from your documents with sources.
  • PipesHub (Knowledge base & RAG): Self-hosted workplace search and AI answers across 50+ connected apps, filtered by each user's permissions.

Langchain-Chatchat alternatives: FAQ

What is the best self-hosted alternative to Langchain-Chatchat?

By our objective ranking: 1. AnythingLLM (an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale); larger community (67.8k vs 38.7k GitHub stars); simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack)) 2. RAGFlow (an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale); larger community (93.2k vs 38.7k GitHub stars)) 3. AFFiNE (an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale); larger community (74.0k vs 38.7k 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 Langchain-Chatchat?

Not by our estimate. Langchain-Chatchat: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Alternatives: AnythingLLM (from €19.99/mo), RAGFlow (from €69.99/mo), AFFiNE (from €35.99/mo), kotaemon (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), MaxKB (from €35.99/mo), PrivateGPT (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), Open Notebook (from €19.99/mo), LightRAG (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), WeKnora (from €35.99/mo), Onyx (formerly Danswer) (from €69.99/mo), FastGPT (from €19.99/mo), DocsGPT (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), PipesHub (from €35.99/mo).

Which Langchain-Chatchat alternative has the most permissive license?

None has fewer conditions than Langchain-Chatchat (Apache-2.0 (Permissive)). Alternatives: AnythingLLM: MIT (Permissive); RAGFlow: Apache-2.0 (Permissive); AFFiNE: MIT (Community Edition) with Enterprise Edition license for server code (Open core); kotaemon: Apache-2.0 (Permissive); MaxKB: GPL-3.0 (Copyleft (GPL)); PrivateGPT: Apache-2.0 (Permissive); Open Notebook: MIT (Permissive); LightRAG: MIT (Permissive); WeKnora: MIT (with third-party components) (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); DocsGPT: MIT (Permissive); PipesHub: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). Not legal advice.

Is Langchain-Chatchat still maintained?

Stale (no commit in 180+ days). Last commit: Nov 10, 2025. Checked Oct 31, 2026.

Related

Sources