LangChain vs LlamaIndex
A side-by-side comparison of LangChain and LlamaIndex, two Orchestration tools, drawn from Ignaite's continuously-verified listings.
Compared from listings verified as of
LlamaIndex
OrchestrationThe data framework for LLM apps — RAG, agents, and document workflows.
View LlamaIndexAt a glance
| Attribute | LangChain | LlamaIndex |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Orchestration | Orchestration |
| Pricing (differs) | FREE | FREEMIUM |
| License (differs) | Open source | Open core |
| Deployment | — | — |
| Platforms | API, CLI | API, CLI |
| Model support | Model-agnostic | Model-agnostic |
| Vendor (differs) | LangChain | LlamaIndex |
The honest brief
LangChain
The default, most-integrated LLM framework — broadest connector ecosystem plus LangGraph + LangSmith in one stack.
- Huge ecosystem of integrations
- Python + TypeScript parity
- Pairs with LangGraph + LangSmith
- Ubiquitous docs and examples
- Abstraction layers add overhead
- Often overkill for simple RAG
- Black-box debugging at scale
- Frequent breaking API churn
LlamaIndex
Retrieval-first where LangChain is orchestration-first — LlamaParse is the go-to for PDFs that defeat normal parsers.
- Best-in-class RAG primitives
- LlamaParse for hard documents
- Python + TypeScript
- Managed LlamaCloud option
- Narrower than full orchestration frameworks
- LlamaCloud parsing is paid
- API churn between versions