LMDeploy vs One API
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted local llm runners options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | LMDeploy | One API |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 61 · Good |
| Category | Local LLM Runners | Local LLM Runners |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 16,384 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,097 | ★ 37,009 |
| First released | 2023 | 2023 |
| Replaces | OpenAI API, Hugging Face Inference Endpoints | OpenAI API, OpenRouter |
What are LMDeploy and One API?
LMDeploy
LMDeploy is an inference and serving toolkit from the OpenMMLab ecosystem for deploying large language models efficiently. It offers quantization, a high-throughput serving engine, and an OpenAI-compatible API.
- High-throughput inference engine
- Weight quantization support
- OpenAI-compatible serving
- Multi-GPU deployment
One API
One API is an LLM API management and distribution system that exposes a single OpenAI-compatible endpoint while routing to many upstream providers. It adds key management, channel load balancing, usage tracking and multi-user billing.
- Unified OpenAI-compatible API
- Channel load balancing
- Token and quota management
- Multi-user support
LMDeploy vs One API: key differences
LMDeploy is written in Python, while One API is built with Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for LMDeploy versus MIT for One API. One API is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 16,384 MB for LMDeploy. One API has the considerably larger community, at 37,009 GitHub stars versus 8,097.
Why pick each one
Choose LMDeploy if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 8.1k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
Choose One API if…
- Single OpenAI-compatible endpoint
- Built-in usage billing
- Easy Docker deployment
Watch out for
- Documentation mostly Chinese
- Scaling needs external database
Frequently asked questions
Is LMDeploy or One API better?
One API is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider LMDeploy if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are LMDeploy and One API free and open-source?
Yes. LMDeploy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and One API under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run LMDeploy and One API with Docker?
LMDeploy: yes. One API: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, LMDeploy or One API?
One API has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 16,384 MB for LMDeploy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.