MaxKB logo
MaxKB
★ 23.0k
vs
lumen logo
lumen
★ 312

MaxKB vs lumen

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.; lumen: Lumen is a 100% local semantic code search engine for AI coding agents. It uses open-source embedding models, SQLite, and your CPU to provide fast and cost-effective code understanding. No API keys or cloud required.

01

TL;DR

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.
lumen logo
lumenRAG / Knowledge Base · ★ 312

Enhancing AI coding agents to find relevant code quickly

02

Side-by-Side Comparison

Field
MaxKB logoMaxKB
lumen logolumen
Category
RAG / Knowledge Base
RAG / Knowledge Base
Stars
★ 23.0k
★ 312
License
GPL-3.0
NOASSERTION
Install Command
docker run -d --name=maxkb --restart=always -p 8080:8080 -v ~/.maxkb:/opt/maxkb 1panel/maxkb
/plugin marketplace add ory/claude-plugins /plugin install lumen@ory
Updated
1d ago
1w ago
Open Source
Yes
Yes
Tags
RAG, Agent, LLM
agentic-coding, claude, claude-ai
03

Features

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
lumen logolumen
01Semantic vector search
02Auto-indexing with Merkle tree change detection
03Incremental updates
04Supports 15 language families
05Zero cloud, fully local
04

Use Cases

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
lumen logolumen
↳Enhancing AI coding agents to find relevant code quickly
↳Reducing API costs for code understanding tasks
↳Enabling offline code search without external services
05

Best For

MaxKB logoMaxKB
Most PopularEssentialTrending
lumen logolumen
—
FAQ

FAQ

What is the difference between MaxKB and lumen?
Both MaxKB and lumen are in the RAG / Knowledge Base category. MaxKB has 23.0k stars, while lumen has 312 stars.
Which is better, MaxKB or lumen?
The best choice depends on your use case. Choose MaxKB if Building intelligent customer service bots with enterprise knowledge bases, and lumen if Enhancing AI coding agents to find relevant code quickly.
Is MaxKB free or open source?
Yes, MaxKB is open source on GitHub (GPL-3.0).
Is lumen free or open source?
Yes, lumen is open source on GitHub (NOASSERTION).
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