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 |
| Capabilities (differs) |
|
|
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
When to pick which
Both cover Agent framework and RAG pipeline.
Pick LangChain if you need Tool / function calling, Multi-model access, and Embeddings.
- Tool / function calling (secondary capability)
- Multi-model access (secondary capability)
- Embeddings (secondary capability)
Pick LlamaIndex if you need Vector search, Chat with documents, Document parsing (structured), and Structured extraction.
- Vector search (secondary capability)
- Chat with documents (secondary capability)
- Document parsing (structured) (primary capability)
- Structured extraction (secondary capability)
LangChain leans on Agent framework as a headline capability; LlamaIndex treats it as secondary.
- Agent framework (primary capability)
They also differ on:
- Pricing
- FREE · FREEMIUM
- License
- Open source · Open core