# Khoj vs llama.cpp

> llama.cpp has a score of 60.2 (C) against Khoj's 38.8 (E). Both do local inference. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 62 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-llama-cpp
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-llama-cpp.md (~1,650 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-llama-cpp.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-llama-cpp.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: 2026-10-04

llama.cpp has a score of 60.2 (C) against Khoj's 38.8 (E). Both do local inference. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 62 points.

- Khoj: grade E, 38.8/100, rank #426 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/khoj.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/khoj.json
- llama.cpp: grade C, 60.2/100, rank #253 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/llama-cpp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/llama-cpp.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Khoj for nothing in particular (no category where it leads by five points or more).

Pick llama.cpp for schema & documentation (+13), agent ergonomics (+27), security & auth (+23), maintenance & community (+62).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Khoj | llama.cpp | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 64 | Khoj +1 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 34 | 47 | llama.cpp +13 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 46 | 73 | llama.cpp +27 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 29 | 52 | llama.cpp +23 |
| 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) | 19 | 81 | llama.cpp +62 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 60 | Khoj +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -7 | -1 | |
| **Total** | | **38.8 · E** | **60.2 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Khoj | llama.cpp |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model platform | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Khoj Inc. | ggml.ai (Hugging Face) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0-or-later | MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-03-26 | 2026-09-23 |
| Popularity | 38k stars | 130k stars |
| Agent reviews | 1/5 (2) | 2.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**llama.cpp.** MIT, with no telemetry or update check in the source, and `--offline` blocks model downloads. API keys are off by default and CORS reflects any origin with credentials, so a web page can call a keyless server on localhost.

## Before you call either

### 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

### llama.cpp

1. Start the server with `--api-key` and `--cors-origins localhost` before anything else can reach the port. Both are off by default
2. Pass `n_predict` or `max_tokens`. Generation is unbounded by default
3. Send `response_fields` to /completion to drop the fields you don't read
4. Wait and retry on a 503 `unavailable_error`. The model is still loading
5. Read the server README of the build you run. Behaviour changes between nightly builds without a changelog entry

## Other comparisons with Khoj or llama.cpp

- [AnythingLLM vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-khoj.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-llama-cpp.md)
- [GPT4All vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-khoj.md)
- [GPT4All vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-llama-cpp.md)
- [Jan vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-khoj.md)
- [Jan vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-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 Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-ollama.md)
- [Khoj vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-open-webui.md)
- [llama.cpp vs LM Studio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-lm-studio.md)
- [llama.cpp vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-localai.md)
- [llama.cpp vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-ollama.md)
- [llama.cpp vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-open-webui.md)
- [llama.cpp vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-screenpipe.md)
- [llama.cpp vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-underdog.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.