Khoj vs Vane (formerly Perplexica)
Short answer
Khoj: Personal and team AI "second brain" for your documents and the web. Vane (formerly Perplexica): Private, Perplexity-style AI answer engine with cited web sources. Both are in our AI search & research assistants category.
Choose Vane (formerly Perplexica) if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Network copyleft (AGPL)) and simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack).
Khoj and Vane (formerly Perplexica) publish no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Last updated · computed from each project's official docs and live GitHub data · sources
Khoj vs Vane (formerly Perplexica) side by side
| Khoj | Vane (formerly Perplexica) | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI search & research assistants | AI search & research assistants |
| What it is | Personal and team AI "second brain" for your documents and the web. | Private, Perplexity-style AI answer engine with cited web sources. |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| License type | Network copyleft (AGPL) | Permissive |
| License conditions | Free for internal and commercial use. If you modify Khoj and let users interact with it over a network, you must offer them the modified source code under AGPL-3.0. | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the copyright notice. |
| Status | Active | Active |
| GitHub stars | 37.8k | 37.6k |
| Last commit | Aug 2, 2026 | Sep 1, 2026 |
| Latest release | 2.0.0-beta.28 | v1.12.2 |
| Minimum hardware | Not published | Not published |
| Recommended hardware | Not published | Not published |
| GPU | Only for offline chat with local models. 16 GB VRAM recommended; an NVIDIA/AMD GPU or an Apple M1+ machine speeds up responses significantly. | Not required / not stated |
| Est. server cost | Not estimated | Not estimated |
| Deploy method | Docker Compose | Docker |
| Known gotchas | 2 listed | 2 listed |
| Details | Full Khoj guide → | Full Vane (formerly Perplexica) guide → |
Key differences
- License: Khoj: AGPL-3.0 (Network copyleft (AGPL)). Vane (formerly Perplexica): MIT (Permissive).
- GPU: Khoj: optional / see notes. Vane (formerly Perplexica): not required or not stated.
- Deploy: Khoj: Docker Compose · multi-container stack. Vane (formerly Perplexica): Docker · single container.
- GitHub stars: Khoj: 37.8k. Vane (formerly Perplexica): 37.6k.
- Last commit: Khoj: Aug 2, 2026. Vane (formerly Perplexica): Sep 1, 2026.
- Latest release: Khoj: 2.0.0-beta.28 (Mar 26, 2026). Vane (formerly Perplexica): v1.12.2 (Apr 10, 2026).
Same for both: Category: AI search & research assistants; Official hardware: not published; Est. server cost: not estimated (no official RAM figure); Status: Active.
Khoj vs Vane (formerly Perplexica): FAQ
Khoj or Vane (formerly Perplexica): which should a small business choose?
Choose Vane (formerly Perplexica) if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Network copyleft (AGPL)) and simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack). Khoj and Vane (formerly Perplexica) publish no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Which is cheaper to self-host, Khoj or Vane (formerly Perplexica)?
Khoj: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Vane (formerly Perplexica): not estimated (no official RAM figure). Our estimate is the cheapest Hetzner Cloud plan that meets each project's official RAM and vCPU figure; it covers the server only.
How much hardware do Khoj and Vane (formerly Perplexica) need?
Khoj: not published. Vane (formerly Perplexica): not published.
What is the license difference between Khoj and Vane (formerly Perplexica)?
Khoj: AGPL-3.0 (Network copyleft (AGPL)). Free for internal and commercial use. If you modify Khoj and let users interact with it over a network, you must offer them the modified source code under AGPL-3.0. Vane (formerly Perplexica): MIT (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the copyright notice. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Is Khoj or Vane (formerly Perplexica) more actively maintained?
Khoj: Active, last commit Aug 2, 2026. Vane (formerly Perplexica): Active, last commit Sep 1, 2026. GitHub data refreshed Oct 22, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, Khoj or Vane (formerly Perplexica)?
Khoj installs via Docker Compose (multi-container stack); Vane (formerly Perplexica) via Docker (single container). Khoj lists 2 known gotchas and Vane (formerly Perplexica) lists 2; see each app page.
Related
Sources
- Khoj GitHub repository: github.com/khoj-ai/khoj
- Khoj documentation, Khoj hardware requirements, Khoj deploy instructions: docs.khoj.dev/get-started/setup/
- Khoj license: github.com/khoj-ai/khoj/blob/master/LICENSE
- Vane (formerly Perplexica) GitHub repository: github.com/ItzCrazyKns/Vane
- Vane (formerly Perplexica) documentation, Vane (formerly Perplexica) hardware requirements, Vane (formerly Perplexica) deploy instructions: github.com/ItzCrazyKns/Vane#readme
- Vane (formerly Perplexica) license: github.com/ItzCrazyKns/Vane/blob/master/LICENSE
- Hetzner Cloud pricing used for cost estimates (read 2026-10-22): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
- GitHub REST API (stars, commits, releases): docs.github.com/en/rest
Every value is generated from the same verified data as the app pages. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.