# Photon vs vLLM

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

| | Photon | vLLM |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 54/100 | 91/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #16 of 85 in Feed Reader | #3 of 25 in LLM Inference |
| GitHub stars | 557 | 95 811 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +0 | +3 167 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 9 | 14 ✓ |
| Latest release | v2.4.3 · 30 Jul 2026 | v0.32.0 · 17 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Svelte | Python |

## Which one should you pick?

vLLM scores 91/100 against 54/100 for Photon, so it is the safer default.

vLLM ships more often: 14 stable releases in the past year, against 9 for Photon.

vLLM is growing faster right now (+3 167 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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