--- title: "willow vs moby" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/heywillow-willow-vs-moby-moby" tools: ["heywillow-willow", "moby-moby"] --- # willow vs moby *GraphCanon updated Jul 11, 2026* ## Verdict Pick willow when willow is primarily C; moby is Go; pick moby when moby is primarily Go; willow is C. [willow](https://heywillow.io/) reports 3.1k GitHub stars, 120 forks, and 27 open issues, last pushed Feb 13, 2026. [moby](https://mobyproject.org/) has 72k stars, 19k forks, and 3.8k open issues, last pushed Jul 10, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [willow's repository](https://github.com/HeyWillow/willow) and [moby's repository](https://github.com/moby/moby). | | [willow](/tools/heywillow-willow.md) | [moby](/tools/moby-moby.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Open source, local, and self-hosted Amazon Echo/Google Home competitive Voice Assistant alternative | The Moby Project - a collaborative project for the container ecosystem to assemble container-based systems | | Stars | 3,066 | 71,899 | | Forks | 120 | 19,126 | | Open issues | 27 | 3,821 | | Language | C | Go | | Adopt for | - | - | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | | Categories | Inference & Serving, LLM Frameworks, Speech & Audio | Developer Tools, Inference & Serving, LLM Frameworks | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [willow](/tools/heywillow-willow.md) | [moby](/tools/moby-moby.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Maintenance | Slowing (36%) | Very active (96%) | | Days since push | 147d | 1d | | Open issues (now) | 27 | 3.8k | | Security scan | No lockfile | No criticals | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/heywillow-willow/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/moby-moby/trust.md) | ## Choose when ### Choose willow if… - willow is primarily C; moby is Go. - Tags unique to willow: alexa, deep-learning, echo, esp-adf. - Also covers Speech & Audio. ### Choose moby if… - moby is primarily Go; willow is C. - Tags unique to moby: containers, docker, go, golang. - Also covers Developer Tools. ## When NOT to use willow - Last GitHub push was 148 days ago (slowing maintenance, Feb 13, 2026). Validate activity before betting a new project on willow. - Inference & Serving: Self-hosting rarely beats a hosted API on cost until you have steady, high-volume traffic. - LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. ## When NOT to use moby - Developer Tools: A gateway is overkill when you're pinned to a single provider and model. - Inference & Serving: Self-hosting rarely beats a hosted API on cost until you have steady, high-volume traffic. - LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. ## Common questions ### What is the difference between willow and moby? willow: Open source, local, and self-hosted Amazon Echo/Google Home competitive Voice Assistant alternative. moby: The Moby Project - a collaborative project for the container ecosystem to assemble container-based systems. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose willow over moby? Choose willow over moby when willow is primarily C; moby is Go; Tags unique to willow: alexa, deep-learning, echo, esp-adf; Also covers Speech & Audio. ### When should I choose moby over willow? Choose moby over willow when moby is primarily Go; willow is C; Tags unique to moby: containers, docker, go, golang; Also covers Developer Tools. ### When should I avoid willow? Last GitHub push was 148 days ago (slowing maintenance, Feb 13, 2026). Validate activity before betting a new project on willow. Inference & Serving: Self-hosting rarely beats a hosted API on cost until you have steady, high-volume traffic. LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. ### When should I avoid moby? Developer Tools: A gateway is overkill when you're pinned to a single provider and model. Inference & Serving: Self-hosting rarely beats a hosted API on cost until you have steady, high-volume traffic. LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. ### Is willow or moby more popular on GitHub? moby has more GitHub stars (71,899 vs 3,066). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are willow and moby open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (willow: Apache-2.0, moby: Apache-2.0). ### Where can I find alternatives to willow or moby? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [willow alternatives](/tools/heywillow-willow/alternatives) and [moby alternatives](/tools/moby-moby/alternatives) ([willow markdown twin](/tools/heywillow-willow/alternatives.md), [moby markdown twin](/tools/moby-moby/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/heywillow-willow-vs-moby-moby.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, willow or moby? willow: Slowing. moby: 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 willow and moby? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [willow trust report](/tools/heywillow-willow/trust); [moby trust report](/tools/moby-moby/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=heywillow-willow`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=heywillow-willow) - 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/_