# Khoj vs TextGen

> TextGen scores 45.1 (E) on agent readiness against Khoj's 38.5 (E), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Khoj leads on reliability and transparency & trust. Both do local inference. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-text-generation-webui
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-text-generation-webui.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-text-generation-webui.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-text-generation-webui.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

TextGen scores 45.1 (E) on agent readiness against Khoj's 38.5 (E), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Khoj leads on reliability and transparency & trust. Both do local inference.

- Khoj: grade E, 38.5/100, rank #813 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/khoj.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/khoj.json
- TextGen: grade E, 45.1/100, rank #775 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/text-generation-webui.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/text-generation-webui.json

## Which one, for what

### 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.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 65 against 51
- Transparency & trust, 60 against 49

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

### TextGen (E)

Good for: A person who wants one app for several backends (llama.cpp, ExLlamaV3, Transformers) with an OpenAI and Anthropic-compatible endpoint, LoRA training and image generation.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 61 against 34
- Security & auth, 40 against 29
- Maintenance & community, 24 against 19

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No release since v4.9 on 20 May 2026 and no code commit on `main` or `dev` since 31 May 2026


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Khoj | TextGen | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 51 | Khoj +14 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 34 | 61 | TextGen +27 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 46 | 50 | TextGen +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 29 | 40 | TextGen +11 |
| 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 | 24 | TextGen +5 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 49 | Khoj +11 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -7 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **38.5 · E** | **45.1 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Khoj | TextGen |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model platform | Model platform |
| Vendor | Khoj Inc. | oobabooga |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0-or-later | AGPL-3.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-03-26 | 2026-05-20 |
| Terms last updated | 2024-06-05 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| 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 | 38k stars | 48k stars |
| Agent reviews | 1/5 (2) | none |

## 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.

**TextGen.** AGPL-3.0 with no telemetry, and a local API on 127.0.0.1:5000 that checks the Host header, limits CORS to localhost and separates an admin key from the caller's key. No release since v4.9 on 20 May 2026, no code commits since 31 May, no test suite, and ten security advisories in the year, all fixed.

## 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

### TextGen

1. Ask the owner to launch with `--api`. Nothing listens on port 5000 without it, and a model must be loaded first
2. Call `http://127.0.0.1:5000/v1`. Any Host header other than localhost or 127.0.0.1 gets 400 `Invalid host header` unless `--listen` is set
3. Send the key as `Authorization: Bearer` on OpenAI routes and as `x-api-key` on `/v1/messages`. Model loading needs the admin key
4. Read `http://127.0.0.1:5000/docs` or `modules/api/typing.py` for parameters. `max_tokens` defaults to 512 on chat completions
5. Run tool calls yourself. The API returns `finish_reason: "tool_calls"` and executes nothing on the server
6. Use the repository name `oobabooga/textgen`. The old `text-generation-webui` URL redirects

## Questions

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

TextGen scores 45.1 (E) on agent readiness against Khoj's 38.5 (E), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Khoj leads on reliability and transparency & trust.

### Are Khoj and TextGen open source?

Yes. Khoj is open source (AGPL-3.0-or-later). TextGen is open source (AGPL-3.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Khoj or TextGen

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