kotaemon vs Langchain-Chatchat
Short answer
kotaemon: Open-source RAG web app for chatting with your documents, with citations and GraphRAG. 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 kotaemon if you want: an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale) and simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack).
kotaemon 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
kotaemon vs Langchain-Chatchat side by side
| kotaemon | Langchain-Chatchat | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Knowledge base & RAG | Knowledge base & RAG |
| What it is | Open-source RAG web app for chatting with your documents, with citations and GraphRAG. | Chinese-first local knowledge-base Q&A and agent app built on LangChain, wired to local model servers. |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| License type | Permissive | Permissive |
| License conditions | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep license and notices. | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed. Models keep their own licenses. |
| Status | Active | Stale (no commit in 180+ days) |
| GitHub stars | 25.8k | 38.7k |
| Last commit | May 30, 2026 | Nov 10, 2025 |
| Latest release | v0.12.0 | 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 | Not required / not stated | 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 | pip (or Docker Compose with Xinference) |
| Known gotchas | 4 listed | 5 listed |
| Telemetry | Not documented | Not documented |
| Calls home by default | Not documented | Not documented |
| SSO (OIDC / SAML / LDAP) | Not documented | Not documented |
| Audit log | Not documented | Not documented |
| RBAC | Not documented | Not documented |
| Details | Full kotaemon guide → | Full Langchain-Chatchat guide → |
Key differences
- GPU: kotaemon: not required or not stated. Langchain-Chatchat: optional / see notes.
- Deploy: kotaemon: Docker · single container. Langchain-Chatchat: pip (or Docker Compose with Xinference) · multi-container stack.
- Status: kotaemon: Active. Langchain-Chatchat: Stale (no commit in 180+ days).
- GitHub stars: kotaemon: 25.8k. Langchain-Chatchat: 38.7k.
- Last commit: kotaemon: May 30, 2026. Langchain-Chatchat: Nov 10, 2025.
- Latest release: kotaemon: v0.12.0 (May 31, 2026). Langchain-Chatchat: v0.3.1 (Jul 12, 2024).
Same for both: Category: Knowledge base & RAG; License: Apache-2.0 (Permissive); Official hardware: not published; Est. server cost: not estimated (no official RAM figure).
kotaemon vs Langchain-Chatchat: FAQ
kotaemon or Langchain-Chatchat: which should a small business choose?
Choose kotaemon if you want: an actively maintained project (Langchain-Chatchat is stale) and simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack). kotaemon and Langchain-Chatchat publish no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Which is cheaper to self-host, kotaemon or Langchain-Chatchat?
kotaemon: 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 kotaemon and Langchain-Chatchat need?
kotaemon: not published. Langchain-Chatchat: not published.
What is the license difference between kotaemon and Langchain-Chatchat?
kotaemon: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep license and notices. 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 kotaemon or Langchain-Chatchat more actively maintained?
kotaemon: Active, last commit May 30, 2026. Langchain-Chatchat: Stale (no commit in 180+ days), last commit Nov 10, 2025. GitHub data refreshed Oct 31, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, kotaemon or Langchain-Chatchat?
kotaemon installs via Docker (single container); Langchain-Chatchat via pip (or Docker Compose with Xinference) (multi-container stack). kotaemon lists 4 known gotchas and Langchain-Chatchat lists 5; see each app page.
Related
- kotaemon self-hosting guide · Langchain-Chatchat self-hosting guide
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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
- 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.