--- title: "heretic vs gateway" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/p-e-w-heretic-vs-trylonai-gateway" tools: ["p-e-w-heretic", "trylonai-gateway"] --- # heretic vs gateway *GraphCanon updated Sep 20, 2026* ## Verdict Pick heretic if heretic is a Python-based tool for automatic censorship removal in language models, using transformer technology; pick gateway if self-hosted firewall for securing AI applications with guardrails and content moderation. [heretic](https://heretic-project.org) reports 32k GitHub stars, 3.5k forks, and 84 open issues, last pushed Sep 5, 2026. [gateway](https://www.trylon.ai) has 131 stars, 12 forks, and 0 open issues, last pushed Jun 25, 2025. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [heretic's repository](https://github.com/p-e-w/heretic) and [gateway's repository](https://github.com/trylonai/gateway). | | [heretic](/tools/p-e-w-heretic.md) | [gateway](/tools/trylonai-gateway.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Fully automatic censorship removal for language models | Self-hosted firewall for securing AI applications with guardrails and content moderation. | | Stars | 31,738 | 131 | | Forks | 3,547 | 12 | | Open issues | 84 | 0 | | Language | Python | Python | | Adopt for | Heretic is a Python-based tool for automatic censorship removal in language models, using transformer technology. | Self-hosted firewall for securing AI applications with guardrails and content moderation. | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | Heretic is licensed under the AGPL-3.0, which requires that any derivative works be open source and distributed under the same license. | Other | | Categories | LLM Frameworks | Evaluation & Observability, LLM Frameworks | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [heretic](/tools/p-e-w-heretic.md) | [gateway](/tools/trylonai-gateway.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Maintenance | Active (82%) | Dormant (18%) | | Days since push | 12d | 445d | | Open issues (now) | 84 | 0 | | Stars delta | +4.0k (30d) | +4 (30d) | | Open issues delta | +10 (30d) | 0 (30d) | | Owner type | User | Organization | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/p-e-w-heretic/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/trylonai-gateway/trust.md) | ## Decision facts: heretic - **Requirements:** Heretic is a Python-based tool, so Python must be installed on the system where it will be used. - **Adopt for:** Heretic is a Python-based tool for automatic censorship removal in language models, using transformer technology. - **License detail:** Heretic is licensed under the AGPL-3.0, which requires that any derivative works be open source and distributed under the same license. ## Decision facts: gateway - **Pricing:** freemium - Open-source with no explicit monetary cost, but requires users to handle infrastructure costs associated with local Docker deployment - **Requirements:** Min 4 GB RAM; Requires Docker; Docker and Docker Compose are required for deployment; Initial launch takes several minutes due to downloading machine learning models (~1.5GB+) for the first time - **Adopt for:** Self-hosted firewall for securing AI applications with guardrails and content moderation. ## Choose when ### Choose heretic if… - License: heretic is AGPL-3.0, gateway is Other. - Requirements: Heretic is a Python-based tool, so Python must be installed on the system where it will be used.. - Tags unique to heretic: abliteration, llm, transformer. - When you need to automatically remove censorship from language models and are comfortable with the AGPL-3.0 license, which requires that any derivative works be open source. ### Choose gateway if… - License: gateway is Other, heretic is AGPL-3.0. - Pricing: Open-source with no explicit monetary cost, but requires users to handle infrastructure costs associated with local Docker deployment. - Requirements: Min 4 GB RAM; Requires Docker; Docker and Docker Compose are required for deployment; Initial launch takes several minutes due to downloading machine learning models (~1.5GB+) for the first time. - Tags unique to gateway: content-moderation, docker-compose, guardrails, pii-redaction. - Also covers Evaluation & Observability. - gateway ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment. - When you need to self-host a secure gateway for LLM-based AI applications that requires local deployment via Docker ## When NOT to use heretic - If your project cannot comply with the AGPL-3.0 license, as it mandates that any derivative works must also be open source. - When you are looking for a tool that does not automatically remove censorship, as Heretic is specifically designed for this purpose and may not align with projects that require manual or selective de- ## When NOT to use gateway - Avoid if you are looking for cloud-managed services, as this tool is designed solely for local or self-hosted environments - Not suitable if you require extensive customization beyond the provided policies.yaml file and predefined guardrails for content moderation and security ## Common questions ### What is the difference between heretic and gateway? heretic: Fully automatic censorship removal for language models. gateway: Self-hosted firewall for securing AI applications with guardrails and content moderation.. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose heretic over gateway? Choose heretic over gateway when License: heretic is AGPL-3.0, gateway is Other; Requirements: Heretic is a Python-based tool, so Python must be installed on the system where it will be used.; Tags unique to heretic: abliteration, llm, transformer; When you need to automatically remove censorship from language models and are comfortable with the AGPL-3.0 license, which requires that any derivative works be open source. ### When should I choose gateway over heretic? Choose gateway over heretic when License: gateway is Other, heretic is AGPL-3.0; Pricing: Open-source with no explicit monetary cost, but requires users to handle infrastructure costs associated with local Docker deployment; Requirements: Min 4 GB RAM; Requires Docker; Docker and Docker Compose are required for deployment; Initial launch takes several minutes due to downloading machine learning models (~1.5GB+) for the first time; Tags unique to gateway: content-moderation, docker-compose, guardrails, pii-redaction; Also covers Evaluation & Observability; gateway ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment; When you need to self-host a secure gateway for LLM-based AI applications that requires local deployment via Docker. ### When should I avoid heretic? If your project cannot comply with the AGPL-3.0 license, as it mandates that any derivative works must also be open source. When you are looking for a tool that does not automatically remove censorship, as Heretic is specifically designed for this purpose and may not align with projects that require manual or selective de- ### When should I avoid gateway? Avoid if you are looking for cloud-managed services, as this tool is designed solely for local or self-hosted environments Not suitable if you require extensive customization beyond the provided policies.yaml file and predefined guardrails for content moderation and security ### Is heretic or gateway more popular on GitHub? heretic has more GitHub stars (31,738 vs 131). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are heretic and gateway open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (heretic: AGPL-3.0, gateway: Other). ### Where can I find alternatives to heretic or gateway? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [heretic alternatives](/tools/p-e-w-heretic/alternatives) and [gateway alternatives](/tools/trylonai-gateway/alternatives) ([heretic markdown twin](/tools/p-e-w-heretic/alternatives.md), [gateway markdown twin](/tools/trylonai-gateway/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/p-e-w-heretic-vs-trylonai-gateway.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, heretic or gateway? heretic: Active. gateway: Dormant. 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 heretic and gateway? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [heretic trust report](/tools/p-e-w-heretic/trust); [gateway trust report](/tools/trylonai-gateway/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=p-e-w-heretic`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=p-e-w-heretic) - 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/_