The open-source alternative to AnythingLLM

Where AnythingLLM fits, and where it stops

AnythingLLM fits a clear job: one person, or a small group, wants a private local app for chatting with documents, running local models, and light agent automation. Download the desktop app for Mac, Windows, or Linux, or run the Docker deployment, point it at a model, and start chatting.

It stops fitting when the work stops being chat. Its multi-user support and permissioning apply to the Docker deployment specifically, per the project README, and its agents act inside that one app instance. A company-level agent system needs more: sessions that start on a schedule or a webhook, agents that reach across Slack, tickets, CRM, docs, and code, permissions enforced per tool, and finished work landing somewhere a human can review before it counts. A document-chat app has none of those surfaces, because it was never built to be the system of record for agent work.

The side-by-side comparison of Kortix and AnythingLLM examines the difference line by line.

The Kortix alternative

Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, their skills, your company memory, and every connector in one git repo you own, with the agents working on real cloud computers. The repo is the deployment. Agents and skills are markdown files, memory is files that accumulate, and kortix.yaml declares the machine image, the connectors, and the triggers. You can self-host it, run it in your VPC, keep it on-prem, or use the managed cloud. Sessions start from the web, the CLI, Slack, Microsoft Teams, mobile, or the API, and session work reaches main through a change request a person approves.

What sets Kortix apart

One git repo that is the company

Your agents, their skills, the company memory, the connector configuration, and the triggers are all files in one repo. You can read any part of it, diff any change, and roll any part of it back. The definition of your company lives as text you own and version.

Any model, your keys

Kortix is model-agnostic. Pick the model per agent, per session, or per message, and switch the day a better one arrives. Bring your own API key from any major provider, sign in with the ChatGPT subscription you already pay for, or point Kortix at your own OpenAI-compatible endpoint.

Governance on every tool call

Connect 3,000+ apps in a click, plus MCP, OpenAPI, Postman, GraphQL, and raw HTTP. You set allow, ask, or block on each tool call, with rules down to the arguments of each call. Permissions are per-resource, for people and agents, with roles, groups, and an audit trail. Connector credentials are brokered server-side and never enter the machine.

Isolated sessions and a review gate

Each session gets its own isolated sandbox and branch. Thousands can run in parallel with no crossover between them. When an agent finishes, its work lands on main as a change request you review as a diff, and merge is default-deny for agents. An agent can even edit its own configuration and propose the change; a person approves it.

Which one should you pick

Pick AnythingLLM if the job is a single user chatting with documents on local models. It is a capable local-first app for exactly that. Pick Kortix when you want a company-level system you own, one that agents actually run: sessions on real cloud computers, connectors governed per tool call, and finished work landing as reviewed change requests. If you already run AnythingLLM and want to bring your setup across, the migration guide covers the move step by step.

Kortix, AnythingLLM, and the other local options

The field around AnythingLLM is bigger than two tools, so here is where each one stands. Facts come from each project's own repository or site, as of October 2026. Open WebUI publishes its source under its own licence with a branding clause: deployments above fifty end users need written permission or an enterprise licence to alter the Open WebUI branding. LM Studio is a desktop app for Mac, Linux, and Windows, and its download page states the app is available under its terms of use rather than an open-source licence.

For a longer shortlist with the same factual treatment, the full list of AnythingLLM alternatives covers more options in depth.

Frequently asked questions

Is AnythingLLM open source?

Yes. AnythingLLM is MIT-licensed, and its full monorepo (frontend, server, document collector, and browser extension) is public on GitHub under Mintplex Labs. Both the desktop app for Mac, Windows, and Linux and the Docker deployment are built from that repo. You can read, modify, and self-host the code freely.

Is Kortix open source?

Yes. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System, and you can read, fork, and audit the code. The repo is written in TypeScript and carries more than 20,000 GitHub stars as of October 2026 (see Kortix on GitHub). Self-hosted deployments run from the same code that powers the managed cloud. Our open-source AnythingLLM alternative page explains what that ownership means in practice.

Can I self-host it?

Both tools self-host, in different shapes. AnythingLLM runs as a desktop app or a Docker deployment, with templates for cloud platforms like AWS, GCP, and Digital Ocean. Kortix is open source and self-hostable: run it on your own network, in your VPC, or on-prem, and self-hosting is free. Use the managed Kortix Cloud when you would rather not run it yourself. The self-hosting guide walks through what a Kortix deployment needs.

Can I bring my own model or API key?

Yes to both. AnythingLLM connects to local or cloud LLMs and routes chats between providers by rules you define. Kortix takes the same freedom further: choose the model per agent, per session, or per message, bring your own API key from any major provider, or sign in with the ChatGPT subscription you already pay for, all on your own keys.

Run your company on something you own

Kortix is open source and free to self-host, and the fastest way to judge it is to point it at one real task and watch the change request come back. Try Kortix.