--- title: "moby vs tabby" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/moby-moby-vs-tabbyml-tabby" tools: ["moby-moby", "tabbyml-tabby"] --- # moby vs tabby *GraphCanon updated Jul 11, 2026* ## Verdict Pick moby when moby is primarily Go; tabby is Rust; pick tabby when tabby is primarily Rust; moby is Go. [moby](https://mobyproject.org/) reports 72k GitHub stars, 19k forks, and 3.8k open issues, last pushed Jul 10, 2026. [tabby](https://tabbyml.com) has 34k stars, 1.8k forks, and 326 open issues, last pushed Jun 30, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [moby's repository](https://github.com/moby/moby) and [tabby's repository](https://github.com/TabbyML/tabby). | | [moby](/tools/moby-moby.md) | [tabby](/tools/tabbyml-tabby.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | The Moby Project - a collaborative project for the container ecosystem to assemble container-based systems | Self-hosted AI coding assistant | | Stars | 71,899 | 33,689 | | Forks | 19,126 | 1,763 | | Open issues | 3,821 | 326 | | Language | Go | Rust | | Adopt for | - | - | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | Apache-2.0 | Other | | Categories | LLM Frameworks, Inference & Serving, Developer Tools | LLM Frameworks, Developer Tools | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [moby](/tools/moby-moby.md) | [tabby](/tools/tabbyml-tabby.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Maintenance | Very active (96%) | Active (82%) | | Days since push | 1d | 11d | | Open issues (now) | 3.8k | 326 | | Security scan | No criticals | No lockfile | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/moby-moby/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/tabbyml-tabby/trust.md) | ## Choose when ### Choose moby if… - moby is primarily Go; tabby is Rust. - License: moby is Apache-2.0, tabby is Other. - Tags unique to moby: go, docker, golang, containers. - Also covers Inference & Serving. - moby ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment. ### Choose tabby if… - tabby is primarily Rust; moby is Go. - License: tabby is Other, moby is Apache-2.0. - Tags unique to tabby: ide, ai, codegen, gen-ai. ## When NOT to use moby - LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. - Inference & Serving: Self-hosting rarely beats a hosted API on cost until you have steady, high-volume traffic. - Developer Tools: A gateway is overkill when you're pinned to a single provider and model. ## When NOT to use tabby - LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. - Developer Tools: A gateway is overkill when you're pinned to a single provider and model. ## Common questions ### What is the difference between moby and tabby? moby: The Moby Project - a collaborative project for the container ecosystem to assemble container-based systems. tabby: Self-hosted AI coding assistant. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose moby over tabby? Choose moby over tabby when moby is primarily Go; tabby is Rust; License: moby is Apache-2.0, tabby is Other; Tags unique to moby: go, docker, golang, containers; Also covers Inference & Serving; moby ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment. ### When should I choose tabby over moby? Choose tabby over moby when tabby is primarily Rust; moby is Go; License: tabby is Other, moby is Apache-2.0; Tags unique to tabby: ide, ai, codegen, gen-ai. ### When should I avoid moby? LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. Inference & Serving: Self-hosting rarely beats a hosted API on cost until you have steady, high-volume traffic. Developer Tools: A gateway is overkill when you're pinned to a single provider and model. ### When should I avoid tabby? LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. Developer Tools: A gateway is overkill when you're pinned to a single provider and model. ### Is moby or tabby more popular on GitHub? moby has more GitHub stars (71,899 vs 33,689). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are moby and tabby open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (moby: Apache-2.0, tabby: Other). ### Where can I find alternatives to moby or tabby? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [moby alternatives](/tools/moby-moby/alternatives) and [tabby alternatives](/tools/tabbyml-tabby/alternatives) ([moby markdown twin](/tools/moby-moby/alternatives.md), [tabby markdown twin](/tools/tabbyml-tabby/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/moby-moby-vs-tabbyml-tabby.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, moby or tabby? moby: Very active. tabby: 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 moby and tabby? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [moby trust report](/tools/moby-moby/trust); [tabby trust report](/tools/tabbyml-tabby/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=moby-moby`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=moby-moby) - 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/_