Leon vs Willow
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted self-hosted ai options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Willow
Open-source privacy-focused voice assistant hardware platform
| Feature | Leon | Willow |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Self-Hosted AI | Self-Hosted AI |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source, docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 17,544 | ★ 3,107 |
| First released | 2019 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Google Assistant, Alexa | Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant |
What are Leon and Willow?
Leon
Leon is an open-source personal assistant that runs on your own server and can perform tasks through skills. It supports speech-to-text and text-to-speech and is designed for privacy and extensibility.
- Skill-based extensibility
- Speech recognition and synthesis
- Privacy focused
- Self-hosted assistant
Willow
Willow is an open-source ecosystem for building fast, private voice assistants on inexpensive hardware. It pairs ESP32-based devices with a self-hosted inference server for local speech recognition.
- Local voice recognition
- Low-cost ESP32 devices
- Home Assistant integration
- Fast response times
Leon vs Willow: key differences
Leon is written in TypeScript, while Willow is built with C. Licensing differs — MIT for Leon versus Apache-2.0 for Willow. Leon is the lighter option, starting around 2,048 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Willow. Leon is the more established project (first released 2019), while Willow arrived in 2023. Leon has the considerably larger community, at 17,544 GitHub stars versus 3,107.
Why pick each one
Choose Leon if…
- Privacy-focused design
- Offline speech support
- Extensible skills system
Watch out for
- Limited skill library
- Slow release cadence
Choose Willow if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
Frequently asked questions
Is Leon or Willow better?
Leon is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Willow if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Leon and Willow free and open-source?
Yes. Leon is licensed under MIT and Willow under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Leon and Willow with Docker?
Leon: yes. Willow: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Leon or Willow?
Leon has the smaller minimum footprint at 2,048 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Willow. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.