# deer-flow vs Photon

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | deer-flow | Photon |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 86/100 ✓ | 54/100 |
| Rank in category | #5 of 209 in AI Agents | #16 of 85 in Feed Reader |
| GitHub stars | 84 615 ✓ | 557 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +1 667 ✓ | +0 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 2 | 9 ✓ |
| Latest release | v2.1.0 · 24 Sept 2026 ✓ | v2.4.3 · 30 Jul 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Python | Svelte |

## Which one should you pick?

deer-flow scores 86/100 against 54/100 for Photon, so it is the safer default.

Photon ships more often: 9 stable releases in the past year, against 2 for deer-flow.

If you want the quickest setup, Photon is easier to run; deer-flow needs more configuration.

deer-flow is growing faster right now (+1 667 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [deer-flow](https://selfhost.directory/project/deer-flow) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/deer-flow.md)
- [Photon](https://selfhost.directory/project/photon-2) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/photon-2.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/deer-flow-vs-photon-2