DeerFlow vs Khoj
Short answer
DeerFlow: ByteDance's open-source super-agent harness for deep research, reports and multi-step tasks with sandboxes. Khoj: Personal and team AI "second brain" for your documents and the web. Both are in our AI search & research assistants category.
Choose DeerFlow if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Network copyleft (AGPL)) and larger community (84.5k vs 37.9k GitHub stars).
Khoj publishes no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Last updated · computed from each project's official docs and live GitHub data · sources
DeerFlow vs Khoj side by side
| DeerFlow | Khoj | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI search & research assistants | AI search & research assistants |
| What it is | ByteDance's open-source super-agent harness for deep research, reports and multi-step tasks with sandboxes. | Personal and team AI "second brain" for your documents and the web. |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| License type | Permissive | Network copyleft (AGPL) |
| License conditions | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the license notice. | Free for internal and commercial use. If you modify Khoj and let users interact with it over a network, you must offer them the modified source code under AGPL-3.0. |
| Status | Active | Active |
| GitHub stars | 84.5k | 37.9k |
| Last commit | Oct 28, 2026 | Aug 2, 2026 |
| Latest release | v2.1.0 | 2.0.0-beta.28 |
| Minimum hardware | 8 vCPU · 16 GB RAM · 40 GB disk | Not published |
| Recommended hardware | 16 vCPU · 32 GB RAM | Not published |
| RAM measured by us | Not tested yet | Not tested yet |
| GPU | Not required / not stated | Only for offline chat with local models. 16 GB VRAM recommended; an NVIDIA/AMD GPU or an Apple M1+ machine speeds up responses significantly. |
| Est. server cost | from €69.99/mo (recommended spec: €130.49/mo) | Not estimated |
| Deploy method | Docker Compose (via make) | Docker Compose |
| Known gotchas | 4 listed | 2 listed |
| Telemetry | Not documented | On by default |
| Calls home by default | Not documented | Not documented |
| SSO (OIDC / SAML / LDAP) | Not documented | Not documented |
| Audit log | Not documented | Not documented |
| RBAC | Yes, free | Not documented |
| Details | Full DeerFlow guide → | Full Khoj guide → |
Key differences
- License: DeerFlow: MIT (Permissive). Khoj: AGPL-3.0 (Network copyleft (AGPL)).
- Official hardware: DeerFlow: minimum 8 vCPU · 16 GB RAM · 40 GB disk (recommended 16 vCPU · 32 GB RAM). Khoj: not published.
- GPU: DeerFlow: not required or not stated. Khoj: optional / see notes.
- Est. server cost: DeerFlow: from €69.99/mo. Khoj: not estimated (no official RAM figure).
- Deploy: DeerFlow: Docker Compose (via make) · multi-container stack. Khoj: Docker Compose · multi-container stack.
- GitHub stars: DeerFlow: 84.5k. Khoj: 37.9k.
- Last commit: DeerFlow: Oct 28, 2026. Khoj: Aug 2, 2026.
- Latest release: DeerFlow: v2.1.0 (Sep 24, 2026). Khoj: 2.0.0-beta.28 (Mar 26, 2026).
Same for both: Category: AI search & research assistants; Status: Active.
DeerFlow vs Khoj: FAQ
DeerFlow or Khoj: which should a small business choose?
Choose DeerFlow if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Network copyleft (AGPL)) and larger community (84.5k vs 37.9k GitHub stars). Khoj publishes no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Which is cheaper to self-host, DeerFlow or Khoj?
DeerFlow: from €69.99/mo. Khoj: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Our estimate is the cheapest Hetzner Cloud plan that meets each project's official RAM and vCPU figure; it covers the server only.
How much hardware do DeerFlow and Khoj need?
DeerFlow: minimum 8 vCPU · 16 GB RAM · 40 GB disk (recommended 16 vCPU · 32 GB RAM). Khoj: not published.
What is the license difference between DeerFlow and Khoj?
DeerFlow: MIT (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the license notice. Khoj: AGPL-3.0 (Network copyleft (AGPL)). Free for internal and commercial use. If you modify Khoj and let users interact with it over a network, you must offer them the modified source code under AGPL-3.0. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Is DeerFlow or Khoj more actively maintained?
DeerFlow: Active, last commit Oct 28, 2026. Khoj: Active, last commit Aug 2, 2026. GitHub data refreshed Oct 28, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, DeerFlow or Khoj?
DeerFlow installs via Docker Compose (via make) (multi-container stack); Khoj via Docker Compose (multi-container stack). DeerFlow lists 4 known gotchas and Khoj lists 2; see each app page.
Related
- DeerFlow self-hosting guide · Khoj self-hosting guide
- All DeerFlow alternatives, ranked
- All Khoj alternatives, ranked
- DeerFlow vs GPT Researcher
- DeerFlow vs SurfSense
- DeerFlow vs Vane (formerly Perplexica)
- GPT Researcher vs Khoj
- Khoj vs Onyx (formerly Danswer)
- Khoj vs Open Notebook
- Khoj vs SurfSense
- Khoj vs Vane (formerly Perplexica)
- Add a third app in the interactive comparison
Sources
- DeerFlow GitHub repository: github.com/bytedance/deer-flow
- DeerFlow documentation: github.com/bytedance/deer-flow#quick-start
- DeerFlow license: github.com/bytedance/deer-flow/blob/main/LICENSE
- DeerFlow hardware requirements: github.com/bytedance/deer-flow#deployment-sizing
- DeerFlow deploy instructions: github.com/bytedance/deer-flow#running-the-application
- Khoj GitHub repository: github.com/khoj-ai/khoj
- Khoj documentation, Khoj hardware requirements, Khoj deploy instructions: docs.khoj.dev/get-started/setup/
- Khoj license: github.com/khoj-ai/khoj/blob/master/LICENSE
- Hetzner Cloud pricing used for cost estimates (read 2026-10-25): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
- GitHub REST API (stars, commits, releases): docs.github.com/en/rest
Every value is generated from the same verified data as the app pages. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.