Karakeep vs Langchain-Chatchat
Short answer
Karakeep: Self-hosted bookmark and read-later app (formerly Hoarder) with AI tagging, summaries and full-text search. Langchain-Chatchat: Chinese-first local knowledge-base Q&A and agent app built on LangChain, wired to local model servers. Both are in our Knowledge base & RAG category.
Choose Karakeep if you want: an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale).
Choose Langchain-Chatchat if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Network copyleft (AGPL)).
Karakeep and Langchain-Chatchat 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 Langchain-Chatchat side by side
| Karakeep | Langchain-Chatchat | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Chinese-first local knowledge-base Q&A and agent app built on LangChain, wired to local model servers. |
| 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. Models keep their own licenses. |
| Status | Active | Stale (no commit in 180+ days) |
| GitHub stars | 30.2k | 38.7k |
| Last commit | Oct 31, 2026 | Nov 10, 2025 |
| Latest release | v0.34.1 | v0.3.1 |
| 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 by the app itself. Since 0.3.0 hardware depends on the model server you connect; the docs say it can run on CPU, GPU, NPU or MPS. The Docker Compose guide pairs it with Xinference and assumes the NVIDIA Container Toolkit. |
| Est. server cost | Not estimated | Not estimated |
| Deploy method | Docker Compose | pip (or Docker Compose with Xinference) |
| Known gotchas | 4 listed | 5 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 Langchain-Chatchat guide → |
Key differences
- License: Karakeep: AGPL-3.0 (Network copyleft (AGPL)). Langchain-Chatchat: Apache-2.0 (Permissive).
- Deploy: Karakeep: Docker Compose · multi-container stack. Langchain-Chatchat: pip (or Docker Compose with Xinference) · multi-container stack.
- Status: Karakeep: Active. Langchain-Chatchat: Stale (no commit in 180+ days).
- GitHub stars: Karakeep: 30.2k. Langchain-Chatchat: 38.7k.
- Last commit: Karakeep: Oct 31, 2026. Langchain-Chatchat: Nov 10, 2025.
- Latest release: Karakeep: v0.34.1 (Oct 22, 2026). Langchain-Chatchat: v0.3.1 (Jul 12, 2024).
Same for both: Category: Knowledge base & RAG; Official hardware: not published; GPU: optional / see notes; Est. server cost: not estimated (no official RAM figure).
Karakeep vs Langchain-Chatchat: FAQ
Karakeep or Langchain-Chatchat: which should a small business choose?
Choose Karakeep if you want: an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale). Choose Langchain-Chatchat if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Network copyleft (AGPL)). Karakeep and Langchain-Chatchat publish no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Which is cheaper to self-host, Karakeep or Langchain-Chatchat?
Karakeep: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Langchain-Chatchat: 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 Langchain-Chatchat need?
Karakeep: not published. Langchain-Chatchat: not published.
What is the license difference between Karakeep and Langchain-Chatchat?
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. Langchain-Chatchat: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed. Models keep their own licenses. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Is Karakeep or Langchain-Chatchat more actively maintained?
Karakeep: Active, last commit Oct 31, 2026. Langchain-Chatchat: Stale (no commit in 180+ days), last commit Nov 10, 2025. GitHub data refreshed Nov 1, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, Karakeep or Langchain-Chatchat?
Karakeep installs via Docker Compose (multi-container stack); Langchain-Chatchat via pip (or Docker Compose with Xinference) (multi-container stack). Karakeep lists 4 known gotchas and Langchain-Chatchat lists 5; see each app page.
Related
- Karakeep self-hosting guide · Langchain-Chatchat 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
- Langchain-Chatchat GitHub repository: github.com/chatchat-space/Langchain-Chatchat
- Langchain-Chatchat documentation: github.com/chatchat-space/Langchain-Chatchat#readme
- Langchain-Chatchat license: github.com/chatchat-space/Langchain-Chatchat/blob/master/LICENSE
- Langchain-Chatchat hardware requirements: github.com/chatchat-space/Langchain-Chatchat#0-软硬件要求
- Langchain-Chatchat deploy instructions: github.com/chatchat-space/Langchain-Chatchat#pip-安装部署
- 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.