ragflow logo
ragflow
★ 92.7k
vs
ken logo
ken
★ 33

ragflow vs ken

ragflow: RAGFlow is a leading open-source Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) engine that integrates RAG with Agent capabilities. It provides a superior context layer for LLMs and offers a streamlined RAG workflow adaptable to enterprises of any scale.; ken: Ken is a pure Go port of semble, providing fast hybrid code search for agents with drop-in MCP compatibility. It offers a single static binary distribution, approximately 44x fewer tokens than grep+Read at recall@10, and supports indexing source code and documentation. The retrieval algorithm is a verbatim port of semble's hybrid BM25 + Model2Vec approach.

01

TL;DR

ragflow logo
ragflowRAG / Knowledge Base · ★ 92.7k
When to choose:
  • Your documents have complex layouts (PDFs, scanned files, tables, slides) and you need layout analysis, OCR, and traceable citations.
  • You want an Apache-2.0 all-in-one RAG platform where you can inspect and hand-tune template-based chunks in a web UI.
When to skip:
  • Your server has less than 4 CPU cores and 16 GB RAM; RAGFlow's multi-service stack is heavy.
  • You want an autonomous web research agent that writes 2,000-word reports from live search rather than indexing a local document corpus; GPT Researcher fits better.
ken logo
kenRAG / Knowledge Base · ★ 33

Agent code search: quickly find relevant code chunks across large codebases

02

Side-by-Side Comparison

Field
ragflow logoragflow
ken logoken
Category
RAG / Knowledge Base
RAG / Knowledge Base
Stars
★ 92.7k
★ 33
License
Apache-2.0
MIT
Install Command
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d
go install github.com/townsendmerino/ken/cmd/ken@latest && go install github.com/townsendmerino/ken/cmd/ken-mcp@latest && ken download-model
Updated
1d ago
1d ago
Open Source
Yes
Yes
Tags
RAG, AI Agent, LLM
agents, bm25, code-search
03

Features

ragflow logoragflow
01Deep document understanding for knowledge extraction from unstructured data.
02Intelligent and template-based chunking with explainable options.
03Grounded citations with reduced hallucinations and traceable references.
04Compatibility with heterogeneous data sources including documents, images, and web pages.
05Automated and effortless RAG workflow orchestration with configurable models and fused re-ranking.
ken logoken
01Pure Go, no cgo; single static binary with free cross-compilation
02Drop-in MCP-compatible with semble (same tool schemas and output format)
03Verbatim port of semble's hybrid BM25 + Model2Vec retrieval algorithm
04Measured ~44x fewer tokens than grep+Read at recall@10 on agent queries
05Fast cold start (~10–20ms for small indexes)
04

Use Cases

ragflow logoragflow
↳Building high-fidelity, production-ready AI systems with complex data.
↳Developing enterprise-scale knowledge base and intelligent Q&A chatbots.
↳Facilitating intelligent document processing and advanced information retrieval.
ken logoken
↳Agent code search: quickly find relevant code chunks across large codebases
↳Embedded-corpus distribution: ship documentation as a single static binary with zero infrastructure
↳Database schema indexing: index live Postgres/SQLite/MySQL schemas for agent context
05

Best For

ragflow logoragflow
Most PopularEssentialTrending
ken logoken
—
FAQ

FAQ

What is the difference between ragflow and ken?
Both ragflow and ken are in the RAG / Knowledge Base category. ragflow has 92.7k stars, while ken has 33 stars.
Which is better, ragflow or ken?
The best choice depends on your use case. Choose ragflow if Building high-fidelity, production-ready AI systems with complex data., and ken if Agent code search: quickly find relevant code chunks across large codebases.
Is ragflow free or open source?
Yes, ragflow is open source on GitHub (Apache-2.0).
Is ken free or open source?
Yes, ken is open source on GitHub (MIT).
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