--- title: "airunner vs sherpa-onnx" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/capsize-games-airunner-vs-k2-fsa-sherpa-onnx" tools: ["capsize-games-airunner", "k2-fsa-sherpa-onnx"] --- # airunner vs sherpa-onnx *GraphCanon updated Sep 20, 2026* ## Verdict Pick airunner if aIRunner supports offline multimodal operations with a strong focus on image generation, real-time voice conversations, and LLM-powered chatbots via GUI or API; pick sherpa-onnx if sherpa-onnx offers local speech-to-text processing across multiple platforms including embedded systems with NPUs, supporting wide programming languages. [airunner](https://airunner.art) reports 1.3k GitHub stars, 103 forks, and 70 open issues, last pushed Sep 19, 2026. [sherpa-onnx](https://k2-fsa.github.io/sherpa/onnx/index.html) has 15k stars, 1.7k forks, and 620 open issues, last pushed Sep 20, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [airunner's repository](https://github.com/Capsize-Games/airunner) and [sherpa-onnx's repository](https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx). | | [airunner](/tools/capsize-games-airunner.md) | [sherpa-onnx](/tools/k2-fsa-sherpa-onnx.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Offline inference engine for art, real-time voice conversations, LLM powered chatbots and automated workflows | Speech-to-text and related audio processing tools using ONNX with cross-platform support | | Stars | 1,316 | 14,860 | | Forks | 103 | 1,708 | | Open issues | 70 | 620 | | Language | Python | C++ | | Adopt for | AIRunner supports offline multimodal operations with a strong focus on image generation, real-time voice conversations, and LLM-powered chatbots via GUI or API. | sherpa-onnx offers local speech-to-text processing across multiple platforms including embedded systems with NPUs, supporting wide programming languages. | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | GPL-3.0, ensuring free use but requiring sharing of modifications in a similar manner. | Apache-2.0 | | Categories | Computer Vision, Inference & Serving, Speech & Audio | Speech & Audio | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [airunner](/tools/capsize-games-airunner.md) | [sherpa-onnx](/tools/k2-fsa-sherpa-onnx.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Open issues (now) | 70 | 620 | | Stars delta | +4 (30d) | +1.0k (30d) | | Open issues delta | +65 (30d) | +3 (30d) | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/capsize-games-airunner/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/k2-fsa-sherpa-onnx/trust.md) | ## Shared compatibility - **Python**: [airunner](/tools/capsize-games-airunner.md) - Python runtime; [sherpa-onnx](/tools/k2-fsa-sherpa-onnx.md) - Python runtime ## Decision facts: airunner - **Requirements:** Min 16 GB RAM; Requires Docker; Requires specific GPU support (NVIDIA) and larger storage allocations compared to competitors - **Adopt for:** AIRunner supports offline multimodal operations with a strong focus on image generation, real-time voice conversations, and LLM-powered chatbots via GUI or API. - **License detail:** GPL-3.0, ensuring free use but requiring sharing of modifications in a similar manner. ## Decision facts: sherpa-onnx - **Adopt for:** sherpa-onnx offers local speech-to-text processing across multiple platforms including embedded systems with NPUs, supporting wide programming languages. ## Choose when ### Choose airunner if… - airunner is primarily Python; sherpa-onnx is C++. - License: airunner is GPL-3.0, sherpa-onnx is Apache-2.0. - Requirements: Min 16 GB RAM; Requires Docker; Requires specific GPU support (NVIDIA) and larger storage allocations compared to competitors. - Tags unique to airunner: ai art, chatbot, image-generation, speech-to-text. - Also covers Computer Vision, Inference & Serving. - airunner ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment. - When needing an all-inclusive offline tool for both image generation and speech-to-text/text-to-speech functionalities ### Choose sherpa-onnx if… - sherpa-onnx is primarily C++; airunner is Python. - License: sherpa-onnx is Apache-2.0, airunner is GPL-3.0. - Tags unique to sherpa-onnx: aarch64, android, arm32, asr. - When you need to deploy speech recognition or synthesis on platforms such as Raspberry Pi, RISC-V, and with NPUs like Rockchip, Axera, Ascend ## When NOT to use airunner - If your primary need is cloud-based services as AIRunner focuses on local deployments only - In scenarios where minimal hardware requirements are crucial, given AIRunner's higher system demands (min. 16 GB RAM, NVIDIA RTX 3060) ## When NOT to use sherpa-onnx - If your project strictly requires real-time web service interaction or server-based speech-to-text solutions - When the target environment lacks support for ONNX runtime and specific NPUs integrated within sherpa-onnx ## Common questions ### What is the difference between airunner and sherpa-onnx? airunner: Offline inference engine for art, real-time voice conversations, LLM powered chatbots and automated workflows. sherpa-onnx: Speech-to-text and related audio processing tools using ONNX with cross-platform support. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose airunner over sherpa-onnx? Choose airunner over sherpa-onnx when airunner is primarily Python; sherpa-onnx is C++; License: airunner is GPL-3.0, sherpa-onnx is Apache-2.0; Requirements: Min 16 GB RAM; Requires Docker; Requires specific GPU support (NVIDIA) and larger storage allocations compared to competitors; Tags unique to airunner: ai art, chatbot, image-generation, speech-to-text; Also covers Computer Vision, Inference & Serving; airunner ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment; When needing an all-inclusive offline tool for both image generation and speech-to-text/text-to-speech functionalities. ### When should I choose sherpa-onnx over airunner? Choose sherpa-onnx over airunner when sherpa-onnx is primarily C++; airunner is Python; License: sherpa-onnx is Apache-2.0, airunner is GPL-3.0; Tags unique to sherpa-onnx: aarch64, android, arm32, asr; When you need to deploy speech recognition or synthesis on platforms such as Raspberry Pi, RISC-V, and with NPUs like Rockchip, Axera, Ascend. ### When should I avoid airunner? If your primary need is cloud-based services as AIRunner focuses on local deployments only In scenarios where minimal hardware requirements are crucial, given AIRunner's higher system demands (min. 16 GB RAM, NVIDIA RTX 3060) ### When should I avoid sherpa-onnx? If your project strictly requires real-time web service interaction or server-based speech-to-text solutions When the target environment lacks support for ONNX runtime and specific NPUs integrated within sherpa-onnx ### Is airunner or sherpa-onnx more popular on GitHub? sherpa-onnx has more GitHub stars (14,860 vs 1,316). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are airunner and sherpa-onnx open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (airunner: GPL-3.0, sherpa-onnx: Apache-2.0). ### Where can I find alternatives to airunner or sherpa-onnx? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [airunner alternatives](/tools/capsize-games-airunner/alternatives) and [sherpa-onnx alternatives](/tools/k2-fsa-sherpa-onnx/alternatives) ([airunner markdown twin](/tools/capsize-games-airunner/alternatives.md), [sherpa-onnx markdown twin](/tools/k2-fsa-sherpa-onnx/alternatives.md)), ranked by typed relationship edges rather than popularity votes. ### Is there a machine-readable version of this comparison? Yes. The markdown twin at [this comparison](/compare/capsize-games-airunner-vs-k2-fsa-sherpa-onnx.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, airunner or sherpa-onnx? airunner: Very active. sherpa-onnx: Very active. Compare maintenance labels, days since push, and release cadence in the trust section below - stars alone do not measure maintenance. ### Where are the full trust reports for airunner and sherpa-onnx? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [airunner trust report](/tools/capsize-games-airunner/trust); [sherpa-onnx trust report](/tools/k2-fsa-sherpa-onnx/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=capsize-games-airunner`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=capsize-games-airunner) - LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) - Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) _GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_