Pyyan / Compare / LightRAG vs LlamaIndex
LightRAG vs LlamaIndex
2 of 5RAG & Knowledge Graphs · verified 13 Aug 2026
HLightRAGHKU Data Sciencecurrent
LlamaIndexLlamaIndexcurrent| Specification | LightRAG | LlamaIndex |
|---|---|---|
| Summary | Graph retrieval at a fraction of GraphRAG's cost. | The strongest option for document-centric retrieval. |
| Kind | Library | Framework |
| Graph | Yes, core | Yes, property graph index |
| Language | Python | Python, TypeScript |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | ~18k | ~45k |
| Category | RAG & Knowledge Graphs | RAG & Knowledge Graphs |
| Official | HKU Data Science ↗ | LlamaIndex ↗ |
Highlighted rows are where these differ.
LightRAG
- Dual-level retrieval over a lighter graph
- Runs on CPU, which GraphRAG does not comfortably
Best for graph RAG on modest hardware.
LlamaIndex
- Deep document handling and many indexing strategies
- The common advice is LlamaIndex for retrieval, LangGraph for orchestration
Best for PDFs, knowledge bases, structured data.