Morphic vs MaxKB
Two of the top projects in RAG, knowledge and search, side by side: who leads on each score part and who each one suits, then setup, license, activity and what each review found.
Morphic
AI answer engine with cited search results and generative UI components
MaxKB
Enterprise knowledge-base agent platform with RAG, workflows and MCP tools
Verdict
Morphic ranks higher, 77 to 75. Of the 5 score parts we measure for both, Morphic leads on 2, MaxKB on 1 and 2 are even.
- AdoptionMaxKB leads by 38 points, 64 to 26: a wide gap.
- FreshnessEven at 100.
- MaintenanceMorphic leads by 1 point, 97 to 96: close to even.
- Easy to runMorphic leads by 33 points, 83 to 50: a wide gap.
- Agent-readyEven at 70.
Pick Morphic if you are
Self-hosters wanting a private, cited AI search app with their own models
- Docker Compose bundles SearXNG, so no search API key is required
- Many model providers, including local Ollama and OpenAI-compatible endpoints
Pick MaxKB if you are
Companies building internal Q&A bots and customer service agents
- Single docker run with all data under one mounted volume
- Workflow engine with function library and MCP tool calling
| What we compare | Morphic | MaxKB |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 26, niche | 64, popular |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 97, healthy | 96, healthy |
| Easy to run | 83, very easy | 50, easy |
| Agent-ready | 70, partly | 70, partly |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 9.2k | 23k |
| License | Apache-2.0 (permissive) | GPL-3.0 (copyleft) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Last release | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Docker | Yes | Yes |
| GPU | Not needed | Not needed |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Mentioned | Mentioned |
Morphic
Morphic is a Next.js (TypeScript) AI search app that answers queries with cited sources and renders results as inline components streamed from a JSON spec. It supports OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Ollama, Vercel AI Gateway and OpenAI-compatible models, with Tavily, SearXNG, Brave or Exa for search. Chat history lives in PostgreSQL, and Docker Compose bundles Postgres, Redis and SearXNG.
Who it is for: Self-hosters wanting a private, cited AI search app with their own models
Strengths
- Docker Compose bundles SearXNG, so no search API key is required
- Many model providers, including local Ollama and OpenAI-compatible endpoints
- Four search backends: Tavily, SearXNG, Brave, Exa
- Built-in accounts via Better Auth or Supabase Auth, plus guest mode and shareable result URLs
Weaknesses
- Compose stack needs PostgreSQL, Redis and SearXNG alongside the app
- Needs at least one model provider API key or a local Ollama setup
- Local development requires Bun; RAM and GPU requirements are not stated
- Chat history, auth and file upload need extra configuration beyond the quick start
- no GPU
- Docker + Compose
- Needs PostgreSQL, Redis, SearXNG, Tavily, Brave, Exa, Supabase
- Models: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Ollama, Vercel AI Gateway
- port 3000
MaxKB
MaxKB runs as one Docker container (port 8080, state in one volume) with a RAG pipeline that uploads or crawls documents, a workflow engine with function library and MCP tool use, and zero-code embedding into other systems. It works with private models (DeepSeek, Llama, Qwen) and public APIs (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, MiniMax) and handles text, image, audio and video. Built on Django, LangChain and PostgreSQL.
Who it is for: companies building internal Q&A bots and customer service agents
Strengths
- Single docker run with all data under one mounted volume
- Workflow engine with function library and MCP tool calling
- Crawls online documents into the knowledge base automatically
- Multimodal input and output: text, image, audio, video
Weaknesses
- GPL-3.0 limits bundling into proprietary products
- Ships with default admin password MaxKB@123..
- README gives no hardware guidance or provider configuration detail
- Detailed docs are on maxkb.cn, partly in Chinese
- no GPU
- Models: OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, MiniMax, DeepSeek, Llama, Qwen as private models
- port 8080
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