SHSelfHostIndex

DeepEval vs promptfoo

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted self-hosted ai options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
DE DeepEval Unit testing framework for LLM outputs VS PR promptfoo Test, evaluate, and red-team LLM applications
FeatureDeepEvalpromptfoo
Deploy effortRead-the-docs projectRead-the-docs project
Health score95 · Excellent97 · Excellent
CategorySelf-Hosted AISelf-Hosted AI
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguagePythonTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentsourcebare-metal, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 18,419★ 25,409
First released20232023
ReplacesLangSmith, BraintrustLangSmith

What are DeepEval and promptfoo?

DeepEval

DeepEval is an open-source evaluation framework that brings unit-testing-style assertions to large language model outputs. It includes metrics for hallucination, relevancy, and bias and integrates with pytest for local CI.

  • Pytest-style LLM tests
  • 14+ built-in metrics
  • Synthetic dataset generation
  • CI/CD integration

Read the full DeepEval guide →

promptfoo

promptfoo is a developer-friendly tool for testing and evaluating prompts, models, and RAG systems. It supports automated evaluations, comparisons, and security red-teaming with a local web viewer.

  • Automated prompt evals
  • Model comparison matrix
  • Red-teaming and security tests
  • Local web viewer

Read the full promptfoo guide →

DeepEval vs promptfoo: key differences

DeepEval is written in Python, while promptfoo is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for DeepEval versus MIT for promptfoo.

Why pick each one

Choose DeepEval if…

  • Pytest-style LLM tests
  • Rich metric library
  • Runs in CI

Watch out for

  • LLM judge token costs
  • Cloud platform upsell
DeepEval details

Choose promptfoo if…

  • Simple YAML configs
  • Red-teaming built in
  • Runs fully locally

Watch out for

  • CLI-centric workflow
  • Node.js required
promptfoo details

Frequently asked questions

Is DeepEval or promptfoo better?

promptfoo is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider DeepEval if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are DeepEval and promptfoo free and open-source?

Yes. DeepEval is licensed under Apache-2.0 and promptfoo under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run DeepEval and promptfoo with Docker?

DeepEval: check the project docs for container support. promptfoo: check the project docs for container support.

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