Khoj
Personal and team AI "second brain" for your documents and the web.
Quick answer
Khoj is a personal and team AI "second brain" for your documents and the web, listed under AI search & research assistants. A typical small-business use: research assistant that combines internal notes with web search. The project publishes no official RAM figure, so we do not estimate a monthly server cost. License: AGPL-3.0, which allows internal business use.
Last updated · facts verified against official docs on · sources
Activity data comes from GitHub and was last refreshed Oct 22, 2026.
What is Khoj?
Khoj answers questions from your notes and documents (PDF, Markdown, Word, Notion and more) and from the web, and can run scheduled research tasks. It works with local models or with hosted APIs and has browser, desktop, Obsidian and Emacs clients.
Where it fits in a 10–200 person business
- Research assistant that combines internal notes with web search
- Scheduled briefings, for example a weekly competitor summary
- Q&A over a personal or team document archive
These use cases are our editorial suggestions, not claims made by the project.
Can a business use Khoj? (license)
| License | AGPL-3.0 |
|---|---|
| Type | Network copyleft (AGPL): Like GPL, and also applies when users access a modified version over a network. |
| Internal business use | Allowed under the license text |
| What to watch | Free for internal and commercial use. If you modify Khoj and let users interact with it over a network, you must offer them the modified source code under AGPL-3.0. |
This is a plain-English summary of the license text, not legal advice. Third-party models you run with it have their own licenses.
What hardware does Khoj need?
The project does not publish a minimum CPU/RAM figure, so we leave it blank rather than guess.
GPU: Only for offline chat with local models. 16 GB VRAM recommended; an NVIDIA/AMD GPU or an Apple M1+ machine speeds up responses significantly.
The published requirements (minimum 8 GB RAM, 5 GB disk) apply to offline chat with local open-weight models. No figures are given for using Khoj with hosted APIs only.
Source: docs.khoj.dev/get-started/setup/
How much does it cost to host Khoj per month?
The project publishes no RAM figure we could verify, so we do not estimate a cost.
How to deploy Khoj
Method: Docker Compose
mkdir ~/.khoj && cd ~/.khoj
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/khoj-ai/khoj/master/docker-compose.yml
# edit KHOJ_ADMIN_PASSWORD, KHOJ_DJANGO_SECRET_KEY and model API keys
docker-compose upFrom the official instructions: docs.khoj.dev/get-started/setup/. Always check the source for the current version before you run it.
Known gotchas when self-hosting Khoj
Alternatives in AI search & research assistants
- Vane (formerly Perplexica) Private, Perplexity-style AI answer engine with cited web sources. Compare Khoj vs Vane (formerly Perplexica)
Khoj FAQ
How much RAM does Khoj need?
Khoj does not publish an official RAM figure, so we do not state one. The published requirements (minimum 8 GB RAM, 5 GB disk) apply to offline chat with local open-weight models. No figures are given for using Khoj with hosted APIs only.
Does Khoj need a GPU?
Only for offline chat with local models. 16 GB VRAM recommended; an NVIDIA/AMD GPU or an Apple M1+ machine speeds up responses significantly.
How much does it cost to self-host Khoj?
The software is free to download. The project publishes no official RAM figure, so we do not estimate a monthly server cost.
Is Khoj free for commercial use?
Khoj is licensed under AGPL-3.0 (Network copyleft (AGPL)). Internal business use is allowed under the license text. Free for internal and commercial use. If you modify Khoj and let users interact with it over a network, you must offer them the modified source code under AGPL-3.0. This is a summary, not legal advice.
What are common problems when self-hosting Khoj?
Set KHOJ_ADMIN_PASSWORD and KHOJ_DJANGO_SECRET_KEY to secure values in docker-compose.yml before starting. The latest GitHub release is a 2.0.0 beta; check the release notes before upgrading production.
Is Khoj still maintained?
Yes, it is actively developed. Last commit: Aug 2, 2026. Latest release: 2.0.0-beta.28 (Mar 26, 2026). Checked Oct 22, 2026.
How do I install Khoj?
The official method is Docker Compose. The exact commands are in the "How to deploy" section above and in the official instructions: https://docs.khoj.dev/get-started/setup/
What are self-hosted alternatives to Khoj?
Other apps in AI search & research assistants: Vane (formerly Perplexica).
Sources
- GitHub repository: github.com/khoj-ai/khoj
- Official documentation, Hardware requirements, Deploy instructions, Gotcha 1: docs.khoj.dev/get-started/setup/
- License text: github.com/khoj-ai/khoj/blob/master/LICENSE
- Gotcha 2: github.com/khoj-ai/khoj/releases
- Hetzner Cloud pricing (cost estimate): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
- GitHub stars, commits and releases: GitHub REST API, fetched
Facts on this page were checked against the project's own repository and docs on 2026-10-22. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.