RAGFlow vs Rivet
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?
RAGFlow
RAG engine with deep document understanding
VS
Rivet
Visual programming environment for building AI agents
| Feature | RAGFlow | Rivet |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Self-Hosted AI | Self-Hosted AI |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 8,192 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 87,057 | ★ 4,658 |
| First released | 2024 | 2023 |
| Replaces | NotebookLM | LangChain |
Why pick each one
Choose RAGFlow if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 87.1k GitHub stars
Choose Rivet if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (4.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is RAGFlow or Rivet better?
Neither is universally better. RAGFlow has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are RAGFlow and Rivet free and open-source?
Yes. RAGFlow is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Rivet under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run RAGFlow and Rivet with Docker?
RAGFlow: yes. Rivet: check the project docs for container support.