Karakeep vs kotaemon
Short answer
Karakeep: Self-hosted bookmark and read-later app (formerly Hoarder) with AI tagging, summaries and full-text search. kotaemon: Open-source RAG web app for chatting with your documents, with citations and GraphRAG. Both are in our Knowledge base & RAG category.
Choose kotaemon if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Network copyleft (AGPL)) and simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack).
Karakeep and kotaemon publish 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
Karakeep vs kotaemon side by side
| Karakeep | kotaemon | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Knowledge base & RAG | Knowledge base & RAG |
| What it is | Self-hosted bookmark and read-later app (formerly Hoarder) with AI tagging, summaries and full-text search. | Open-source RAG web app for chatting with your documents, with citations and GraphRAG. |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| License type | Network copyleft (AGPL) | Permissive |
| License conditions | Free for internal and commercial use. If you modify Karakeep and let users interact with it over a network, you must offer them the modified source under AGPL-3.0. | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep license and notices. |
| Status | Active | Active |
| GitHub stars | 30.2k | 25.8k |
| Last commit | Oct 31, 2026 | May 30, 2026 |
| Latest release | v0.34.1 | v0.12.0 |
| Minimum hardware | Not published | Not published |
| Recommended hardware | Not published | Not published |
| RAM measured by us | Not tested yet | Not tested yet |
| GPU | No. AI tagging calls OpenAI or an Ollama server you configure. | Not required / not stated |
| Est. server cost | Not estimated | Not estimated |
| Deploy method | Docker Compose | Docker |
| Known gotchas | 4 listed | 4 listed |
| Telemetry | Not documented | Not documented |
| Calls home by default | Yes, by default | Not documented |
| SSO (OIDC / SAML / LDAP) | Free (OIDC free) | Not documented |
| Audit log | Not documented | Not documented |
| RBAC | Not documented | Not documented |
| Details | Full Karakeep guide → | Full kotaemon guide → |
Key differences
- License: Karakeep: AGPL-3.0 (Network copyleft (AGPL)). kotaemon: Apache-2.0 (Permissive).
- GPU: Karakeep: optional / see notes. kotaemon: not required or not stated.
- Deploy: Karakeep: Docker Compose · multi-container stack. kotaemon: Docker · single container.
- GitHub stars: Karakeep: 30.2k. kotaemon: 25.8k.
- Last commit: Karakeep: Oct 31, 2026. kotaemon: May 30, 2026.
- Latest release: Karakeep: v0.34.1 (Oct 22, 2026). kotaemon: v0.12.0 (May 31, 2026).
Same for both: Category: Knowledge base & RAG; Official hardware: not published; Est. server cost: not estimated (no official RAM figure); Status: Active.
Karakeep vs kotaemon: FAQ
Karakeep or kotaemon: which should a small business choose?
Choose kotaemon if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Network copyleft (AGPL)) and simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack). Karakeep and kotaemon publish no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Which is cheaper to self-host, Karakeep or kotaemon?
Karakeep: not estimated (no official RAM figure). kotaemon: 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 Karakeep and kotaemon need?
Karakeep: not published. kotaemon: not published.
What is the license difference between Karakeep and kotaemon?
Karakeep: AGPL-3.0 (Network copyleft (AGPL)). Free for internal and commercial use. If you modify Karakeep and let users interact with it over a network, you must offer them the modified source under AGPL-3.0. kotaemon: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep license and notices. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Is Karakeep or kotaemon more actively maintained?
Karakeep: Active, last commit Oct 31, 2026. kotaemon: Active, last commit May 30, 2026. GitHub data refreshed Nov 1, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, Karakeep or kotaemon?
Karakeep installs via Docker Compose (multi-container stack); kotaemon via Docker (single container). Karakeep lists 4 known gotchas and kotaemon lists 4; see each app page.
Related
- Karakeep self-hosting guide · kotaemon self-hosting guide
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- Add a third app in the interactive comparison
Sources
- Karakeep GitHub repository: github.com/karakeep-app/karakeep
- Karakeep documentation, Karakeep hardware requirements, Karakeep deploy instructions: docs.karakeep.com/installation/docker/
- Karakeep license: github.com/karakeep-app/karakeep/blob/main/LICENSE
- 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
- 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.