Guidance vs OpenHands
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?
Guidance
Constrained generation language for controlling LLMs
VS
OpenHands
Autonomous AI software engineering agent
| Feature | Guidance | OpenHands |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Self-Hosted AI | Self-Hosted AI |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Jupyter Notebook | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 8,192 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 21,706 | ★ 83,415 |
| First released | 2023 | 2024 |
| Replaces | OpenAI API | Devin, GitHub Copilot Workspace |
Why pick each one
Choose Guidance if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Mature project with 21.7k GitHub stars
- Written in Jupyter Notebook
Choose OpenHands if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 83.4k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Guidance or OpenHands better?
Neither is universally better. OpenHands has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Guidance and OpenHands free and open-source?
Yes. Guidance is licensed under MIT and OpenHands under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Guidance and OpenHands with Docker?
Guidance: check the project docs for container support. OpenHands: yes.