# Jan vs vLLM

> vLLM scores 57.7 (C) to Jan's 51.3 (D) for local inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-vllm
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-vllm.md (~2,350 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-vllm.min.md (~530 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-vllm.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
- Updated: 2026-10-09

vLLM scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Jan's 51.3 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Jan leads on reliability. Both do local inference.

- Jan: grade D, 51.3/100, rank #753 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/jan.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/jan.json
- vLLM: grade C, 57.7/100, rank #600 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vllm.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vllm.json
- Best local AI models and assistants: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/local-ai/index.md
- All 184 local ai comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/local-ai/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Jan (D)

Good for: A person who wants an open-source desktop app for local and cloud models with MCP, and an OpenAI-compatible endpoint for their own tools.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 68 against 62

Watch for: No release since 0.8.4 on 23 July 2026, while a security fix waits on main

### vLLM (C)

Good for: An owner with a GPU server who wants many concurrent requests against one open-weight model behind OpenAI or Anthropic compatible routes.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 68 against 56
- Agent ergonomics, 64 against 46
- Security & auth, 50 against 43
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 47

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it

Watch for: `--api-key` guards only the `/v1`, `/v2`, `/inference` and `/cohere` prefixes. `/invocations`, `/pooling`, `/classify`, `/score`, `/rerank`, `/pause` and `/update_weights` answer without it


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Jan | vLLM | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 68 | 62 | Jan +6 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 56 | 68 | vLLM +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 46 | 64 | vLLM +18 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 50 | vLLM +7 |
| 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) | 47 | 88 | vLLM +41 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 67 | Jan +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | -6 | |
| **Total** | | **51.3 · D** | **57.7 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Jan | vLLM |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model platform | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Menlo Research | vLLM project (PyTorch Foundation) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-07-23 | 2026-10-02 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-01-16 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 45k stars | 93k stars |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**Jan.** Apache-2.0, with installers for macOS, Windows and Linux plus Flathub and the Microsoft Store. No release since 0.8.4 on 23 July 2026, while a security fix waits on main.

**vLLM.** Apache-2.0 software with a release about every two weeks, each with notes that list breaking changes and security fixes. The optional API key covers only some path prefixes, so `/invocations` and control routes such as `/pause` answer without it, and at least 81 security advisories were published in the 12 months to 9 October 2026.

## Before you call either

### Jan

1. Ask the owner to start the server (Settings, Local API Server) or run `jan serve`. Nothing listens until then
2. Call http://127.0.0.1:1337/v1 for the app and localhost:6767/v1 for `jan serve`. The ports differ
3. Read /openapi.json from the running server, not the spec on the docs site, which describes the retired Cortex API
4. Branch on the status code. Error bodies are plain text
5. Keep the bind at 127.0.0.1 on 0.8.4. Trusted Hosts is ignored on 0.0.0.0 until the next release

### vLLM

1. Put a reverse proxy that allowlists routes in front of the server. `--api-key` leaves `/invocations` and the control routes open
2. Pass `--host 127.0.0.1` for single-machine use. With no `--host` the server listens on every interface
3. Set `VLLM_NO_USAGE_STATS=1` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before starting if nothing should be sent to stats.vllm.ai
4. Start with `--enable-auto-tool-choice` and the `--tool-call-parser` for the model before sending tools. Tool calling is off without them
5. Send `max_tokens` on every request, and read the breaking changes section of the release notes before upgrading a minor version

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Jan or vLLM?

vLLM scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Jan's 51.3 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Jan leads on reliability.

### Can an agent call Jan and vLLM without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Jan. No hosted endpoint is listed for vLLM.

### Are Jan and vLLM open source?

Yes. Jan is open source (Apache-2.0). vLLM is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Jan or vLLM

- [AnythingLLM vs Jan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-jan.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-vllm.md)
- [Docker Model Runner vs Jan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-jan.md)
- [Docker Model Runner vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-vllm.md)
- [Foundry Local vs Jan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-jan.md)
- [Foundry Local vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-vllm.md)
- [Core vs Jan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-jan.md)
- [Core vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-vllm.md)
- [GPT4All vs Jan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-jan.md)
- [GPT4All vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-vllm.md)
- [Jan vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-khoj.md)
- [Jan vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [Jan vs Lemonade](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-lemonade.md)
- [Jan vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-llama-cpp.md)
- [Jan vs LM Studio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-lm-studio.md)
- [Jan vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-localai.md)
- [Jan vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-mlx-lm.md)
- [Jan vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-ollama.md)
- [Jan vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-open-webui.md)
- [Jan vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-screenpipe.md)
- [Jan vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
- [Khoj vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-vllm.md)
- [KoboldCpp vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-vllm.md)
- [Lemonade vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-vllm.md)
- [llama.cpp vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-vllm.md)
- [LM Studio vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-vllm.md)
- [LocalAI vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-vllm.md)
- [MLX LM vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-vllm.md)
- [Ollama vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-vllm.md)
- [Open WebUI vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/open-webui-vs-vllm.md)
- [screenpipe vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/screenpipe-vs-vllm.md)
- [TextGen vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/text-generation-webui-vs-vllm.md)
- [Jan vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-underdog.md)
- [Underdog vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/underdog-vs-vllm.md)