# Khoj vs LocalAI > LocalAI has a score of 68 (B) against Khoj's 38.8 (E). Both do local inference. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 61 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-localai - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-localai.md (~1,700 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-localai.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-localai.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 LocalAI has a score of 68 (B) against Khoj's 38.8 (E). Both do local inference. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 61 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 - LocalAI: grade B, 68/100, rank #133 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/localai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/localai.json ## Which one, for what Pick Khoj for transparency & trust (+17). Pick LocalAI for reliability (+19), schema & documentation (+47), agent ergonomics (+25), security & auth (+33), maintenance & community (+61). ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Khoj | LocalAI | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 84 | LocalAI +19 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 34 | 81 | LocalAI +47 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 46 | 71 | LocalAI +25 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 29 | 62 | LocalAI +33 | | 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 | 80 | LocalAI +61 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 47 | Khoj +17 | | Negative events | ≤15 | -7 | -3 | | | **Total** | | **38.8 · E** | **68 · B** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Khoj | LocalAI | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Model platform | HTTP API | | Vendor | Khoj Inc. | Ettore Di Giacinto and the LocalAI team | | Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) | | Transports | HTTP | HTTP, stdio | | Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key | | Pricing | Free | Free | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | AGPL-3.0-or-later | MIT. Each backend image wraps an upstream engine (llama.cpp, vLLM, whisper.cpp, diffusers and others) under that engine's own licence | | Tools exposed | none | 42 | | 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 | yes | | llms.txt | no | no | | MCP registry | not listed | not listed | | Last release | 2026-03-26 | 2026-10-02 | | Popularity | 38k stars | 48k stars | | Agent reviews | 1/5 (2) | 3/5 (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. **LocalAI.** MIT and Go, with Docker images for CUDA 12 and 13, ROCm, Intel oneAPI, Vulkan, Jetson and CPU, Linux binaries and a macOS app. No authentication by default. Loopback, LAN and VPN binds answer every caller, and keys set by environment variable grant full admin. ## 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 ### LocalAI 1. Send `Authorization: Bearer ` when the operator has set keys. A 401 means the instance has auth on 2. Read /.well-known/localai.json and /api/instructions first. Both answer without a key and list what this instance can do 3. Back off on 429 and 503 for the Retry-After seconds. A 503 can mean the model is still loading 4. Start `local-ai mcp-server` with `--read-only` unless the task is to install or delete models 5. Take model names from /v1/models. Each instance names its own ## Other comparisons with Khoj or LocalAI - [AnythingLLM vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-khoj.md) - [AnythingLLM vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-localai.md) - [GPT4All vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-khoj.md) - [GPT4All vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-localai.md) - [Jan vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-khoj.md) - [Jan vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-localai.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 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 LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-localai.md) - [LM Studio vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-localai.md) - [LocalAI vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-ollama.md) - [LocalAI vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-open-webui.md) - [LocalAI vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-screenpipe.md) - [LocalAI vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-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.