AgentIndex icon
AgentIndex
knowledge-rag logo
knowledge-rag
★ 300
vs
MaxKB logo
MaxKB
★ 23.0k

knowledge-rag vs MaxKB

knowledge-rag: Knowledge RAG is a fully local, zero-cloud document retrieval system that lets Claude Code search your PDFs, markdown, code, and notebooks natively. It indexes up to 1800+ files in under 3 minutes, using hybrid search (BM25 + semantic vectors + cross-encoder reranking) via 12 MCP tools. Everything runs locally via ONNX, no Docker, Ollama, or API keys required.; MaxKB: MaxKB is an open-source platform for building enterprise-grade AI agents with integrated RAG pipelines, workflow orchestration, and MCP tool-use capabilities. It supports direct document upload, automatic web crawling, and multiple embedding models for knowledge base construction. Widely used for intelligent customer service, internal knowledge bases, and academic research applications.

01

TL;DR

knowledge-rag logo
knowledge-ragRAG / Knowledge Base · ★ 300

Personal document retrieval and knowledge base for developers

Read knowledge-rag full review →
MaxKB logo
MaxKBRAG / Knowledge Base · ★ 23.0k
When to choose:
  • You want an all-in-one knowledge-base and workflow agent platform that starts with a single Docker command and embeds easily into websites.
  • You need broad support for domestic Chinese LLM providers alongside global models for internal enterprise Q&A.
When to skip:
  • You cannot use GPL-3.0 licensed software in your commercial distribution; RAGFlow is Apache-2.0.
  • Your primary bottleneck is extracting complex tables and layouts from messy scanned PDFs; RAGFlow's deep document parser goes further.
Read MaxKB full review →
02

Side-by-Side Comparison

Field
knowledge-rag logoknowledge-rag
MaxKB logoMaxKB
Category
RAG / Knowledge Base
RAG / Knowledge Base
Stars
★ 300
★ 23.0k
License
MIT
GPL-3.0
Install Command
pip install knowledge-rag
docker run -d --name=maxkb --restart=always -p 8080:8080 -v ~/.maxkb:/opt/maxkb 1panel/maxkb
Updated
1w ago
1d ago
Open Source
Yes
Yes
Website
↗ Visit
↗ Visit
GitHub
↗ GitHub
↗ GitHub
Tags
bm25, chromadb, claude
RAG, Agent, LLM
03

Features

knowledge-rag logoknowledge-rag
01Hybrid Search with BM25 + semantic vectors + cross-encoder reranking
02Optional GPU acceleration for 5-10x faster indexing
0320 format parsers (MD, PDF, DOCX, code, etc.)
04YAML configuration with domain-specific presets
0512 MCP tools for full CRUD, search, and evaluation
MaxKB logoMaxKB
01RAG pipeline with document upload, web crawling, and automatic chunking
02Visual workflow builder for multi-step agent logic
03MCP tool-use capabilities for connecting to external services
04Supports multiple LLMs and embedding models
05Docker deployment with 1Panel integration for easy self-hosting
04

Use Cases

knowledge-rag logoknowledge-rag
↳Personal document retrieval and knowledge base for developers
↳Security research document indexing and querying
↳Offline documentation assistant for sensitive environments
MaxKB logoMaxKB
↳Building intelligent customer service bots with enterprise knowledge bases
↳Creating internal Q&A systems over company documents and wikis
↳Deploying research assistants with RAG over academic or technical document collections
05

Best For

knowledge-rag logoknowledge-rag
—
MaxKB logoMaxKB
Most PopularEssentialTrending
FAQ

FAQ

What is the difference between knowledge-rag and MaxKB?
Both knowledge-rag and MaxKB are in the RAG / Knowledge Base category. knowledge-rag has 300 stars, while MaxKB has 23.0k stars.
Which is better, knowledge-rag or MaxKB?
The best choice depends on your use case. Choose knowledge-rag if Personal document retrieval and knowledge base for developers, and MaxKB if Building intelligent customer service bots with enterprise knowledge bases.
Is knowledge-rag free or open source?
Yes, knowledge-rag is open source on GitHub (MIT).
Is MaxKB free or open source?
Yes, MaxKB is open source on GitHub (GPL-3.0).
Cloud Infrastructure
Ad

Deploy on DigitalOcean

Host your MCP servers, Docker containers, and AI agents with $200 free credit over 60 days.

Claim $200 Free Credit
→

Related

Alternatives to knowledge-rag →Alternatives to MaxKB →knowledge-rag details →MaxKB details →