# Berth vs Khoj

> Berth scores 67.6 (B) to Khoj's 38.8 (E) for local inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-khoj
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-khoj.md (~2,750 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-khoj.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-khoj.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-28

Berth scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Khoj's 38.8 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do local inference.

- Berth: grade B, 67.6/100, rank #283 of 1218. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/berth.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/berth.json
- Khoj: grade E, 38.8/100, rank #1108 of 1218. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/khoj.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/khoj.json
- Best local AI models and assistants: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/local-ai/index.md
- All 229 local ai comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/local-ai/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Berth (B)

Good for: Someone running several GPU programs (llama.cpp, llama-swap, Ollama, vLLM, ComfyUI, games) on one NVIDIA card who wants them to take turns, and agents that need to ask for the card.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 76 against 65
- Schema & documentation, 69 against 34
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 46
- Security & auth, 51 against 29
- Maintenance & community, 76 against 19
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 63

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card
- No incidents deducted, where Khoj loses 7 points for them

Watch for: First released on 11 October 2026 and called alpha. Windows, AMD and multiple GPUs are experimental, and the gateway is a preview

### Khoj (E)

Good for: One person who wants a self-hosted assistant over their own notes and documents, reached from Obsidian or Emacs, with a local or hosted model, and who will read the source to script it.

Watch for: No tagged release since 2.0.0-beta.28 on 26 March 2026 and no commit since 2 August


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Berth | Khoj | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 76 | 65 | Berth +11 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 34 | Berth +35 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 46 | Berth +29 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 51 | 29 | Berth +22 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 76 | 19 | Berth +57 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 63 | Berth +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -7 | |
| **Total** | | **67.6 · B** | **38.8 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Berth | Khoj |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | Platform |
| Vendor | Trevin Tindall (T-Crypt on GitHub) | Khoj Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0. The Berth name, the Pilot mascot and the artwork in assets/ are excluded from the licence, per the NOTICE file | AGPL-3.0-or-later |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-23 | 2026-03-26 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2024-06-05 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 245 stars | 38k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 1/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Berth.** Berth coordinates one NVIDIA card between engines, ComfyUI and games, grants a lease only after the driver shows memory free, and gives agents a skill, JSON output and a keyed loopback gateway. It is 17 days old, alpha and maintained by one developer, with Windows and AMD experimental and no machine-readable API spec.

**Khoj.** AGPL-3.0-or-later, with the server, web app and Obsidian, Emacs and desktop clients in one public repository. No tagged release since 2.0.0-beta.28 on 26 March 2026 and no commit since 2 August.

## Before you call either

### Berth

1. Run `berth status --format json` before starting, stopping or switching any GPU engine. If berthd is unreachable, no engine is protected
2. Never kill a process to free VRAM. Ask for the card with `berth run`, `berth hold` or a gateway request, and report stowaways to the user
3. Send gateway requests to http://127.0.0.1:9799/v1 with `Authorization: Bearer $(berth key)`, and use `"stream": true` for cold starts of up to minutes
4. On a 503, read the `code` and wait for `Retry-After`. A pinned holder (a game or `berth hold`) answers 409 to stop and is the user's call
5. Ask the user before `berth reclaim LEASE --yes`, any berth.toml edit or `berth update`. Each changes the node

### Khoj

1. Install with `pip install --pre khoj` or a 2.0.0-beta image tag. Plain `pip install khoj` and `latest` give 1.42.10 from July 2025
2. Point the Obsidian, Emacs or desktop client at your own server. They default to app.khoj.dev, which shut down on 15 April 2026
3. Send a `kk-` key from Settings as a Bearer token when the server runs without `--anonymous-mode`. In anonymous mode /auth isn't mounted and no key exists
4. Call `GET /api/search?q=...&n=5` for passages and put `file:"notes.md"` or `dt>="2026-01-01"` inside `q` to filter. No route is documented
5. Set `KHOJ_TELEMETRY_DISABLE=True` before the first start. Tagged releases send the caller's IP with telemetry

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Berth or Khoj?

Berth scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Khoj's 38.8 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Can an agent call Berth and Khoj without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Berth. No hosted endpoint is listed for Khoj.

### Are Berth and Khoj open source?

Yes. Berth is open source (Apache-2.0. The Berth name, the Pilot mascot and the artwork in assets/ are excluded from the licence, per the NOTICE file). Khoj is open source (AGPL-3.0-or-later).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-khoj.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-khoj.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "berth", "b": "khoj"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare berth khoj`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/berth.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/khoj.json

## Other comparisons with Berth or Khoj

- [AnythingLLM vs Berth](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-berth.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-khoj.md)
- [Berth vs BitRun](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-bitrun.md)
- [Berth vs Docker Model Runner](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-docker-model-runner.md)
- [Berth vs Foundry Local](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-foundry-local.md)
- [Berth vs Core](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-ghost-core.md)
- [Berth vs GPT4All](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-gpt4all.md)
- [Berth vs Jan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-jan.md)
- [Berth vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [Berth vs Lemonade](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-lemonade.md)
- [Berth vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-llama-cpp.md)
- [Berth vs LM Studio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-lm-studio.md)
- [Berth vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-localai.md)
- [Berth vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-mlx-lm.md)
- [Berth vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-ollama.md)
- [Berth vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-open-webui.md)
- [Berth vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-screenpipe.md)
- [Berth vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
- [Berth vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-vllm.md)
- [BitRun vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-khoj.md)
- [Docker Model Runner vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-khoj.md)
- [Foundry Local vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-khoj.md)
- [Core vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-khoj.md)
- [GPT4All vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-khoj.md)
- [Jan vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-khoj.md)
- [Khoj vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [Khoj vs Lemonade](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-lemonade.md)
- [Khoj vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-llama-cpp.md)
- [Khoj vs LM Studio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-lm-studio.md)
- [Khoj vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-localai.md)
- [Khoj vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-mlx-lm.md)
- [Khoj vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-ollama.md)
- [Khoj vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-open-webui.md)
- [Khoj vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
- [Khoj vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-vllm.md)
- [AI Memory vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ai-memory-vs-khoj.md)
- [Context Mode Engine vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-khoj.md)
- [Graphicle vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphicle-vs-khoj.md)
- [Khoj vs LocalGhost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-localghost.md)
- [Khoj vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-screenpipe.md)

## Disclosure

- Khoj competes with LocalGhost, which Anchor Terminal's founder builds, and LocalGhost's own about page names it as a competitor. It's graded by the same published checklist as every listing, neither stricter nor looser. Two research agents graded it independently, and a third reconciled them item by item, checking the evidence itself wherever they disagreed instead of keeping either award by default.

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