About
Onyx (formerly Danswer) is an open-source AI enterprise search and chat platform trusted by over 1,000 of the world's top teams. It acts as an intelligent assistant that connects to all your company's apps, documents, and internal knowledge bases to surface accurate, grounded answers instantly. At its core, Onyx uses a powerful combination of hybrid search, advanced retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), contextual retrieval, and LLM-based knowledge graphs to produce highly reliable responses. It features deep research capabilities, MCP support, a built-in code interpreter, and web search integration. Onyx supports plug-and-play connectors to popular tools across engineering, sales, support, and operations — syncing updates in real time while respecting granular access controls. Its developer platform exposes a wide range of APIs, enabling query expansion, custom agent behavior configurations, and deep extensibility. Being fully open-source (17k+ GitHub stars), Onyx can be self-hosted on any infrastructure, giving organizations full transparency and control over their data. It is SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliant. Use cases span company-wide knowledge access, faster engineering workflows, sales enablement, and customer support — all powered by secure, role-based GenAI access.
Key Features
- Hybrid Search & Advanced RAG: Combines hybrid search, contextual retrieval, and LLM-based knowledge graphs to deliver the most accurate, grounded answers from your company's knowledge base.
- Universal App Connectors: Plug-and-play connectors sync your docs, apps, and tools in real time while respecting fine-grained access controls across your organization.
- Deep Research & AI Chat: Features deep research mode, a built-in code interpreter, web search, and MCP support for advanced AI-powered chat and analysis workflows.
- Self-Hosting & Open Source: Fully open-source with 17k+ GitHub stars, deployable on any infrastructure for complete transparency, data ownership, and infinite extensibility.
- Enterprise Security & Compliance: SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliant, with granular permissions, secure deployment options, and built-in generative AI safety controls.
Use Cases
- Company-wide knowledge access: Empower all employees to instantly find answers from internal docs, wikis, and tools using natural language queries.
- Engineering productivity: Help engineering teams quickly surface relevant code, documentation, and past decisions to ship faster.
- Sales enablement: Give sales reps instant access to product updates, past conversations, and competitive intel to close more deals.
- Customer support: Enable support teams to answer customer questions confidently by searching across the entire product knowledge base.
- Self-hosted enterprise AI: Organizations with strict data security requirements can deploy Onyx on their own infrastructure for a fully private, compliant AI assistant.
Pros
- Truly Open Source: Fully open-source codebase with a large community, enabling self-hosting, full data control, and deep customization without vendor lock-in.
- High Answer Reliability: Advanced RAG and hybrid search provide responses grounded in real company knowledge, reducing hallucinations and improving trust in AI-generated answers.
- Broad Integration Ecosystem: Connects to a wide range of business tools with real-time sync and access control respect, making it immediately useful across departments.
- Enterprise-Grade Security: SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliance, granular permissions, and secure deployment options make it suitable for sensitive enterprise environments.
Cons
- Self-Hosting Complexity: Setting up and maintaining a self-hosted instance requires technical expertise and infrastructure management, which may be challenging for smaller teams.
- Enterprise Pricing Opacity: Advanced enterprise features and full cloud-managed plans may require contacting sales, making it harder to evaluate costs upfront.
- Connector Configuration Overhead: Configuring and maintaining connectors to many different data sources can require ongoing administrative effort, especially in large or complex environments.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Danswer and Onyx?
Danswer has been rebranded to Onyx AI. The product is the same open-source AI enterprise search and chat assistant, now operating under the Onyx name with expanded features and capabilities.
Can I self-host Onyx on my own infrastructure?
Yes. Onyx is fully open-source and can be deployed on any infrastructure — cloud, on-premises, or hybrid. A self-hosting guide is available in their documentation.
What data sources does Onyx connect to?
Onyx supports plug-and-play connectors for a wide range of tools including wikis, project management platforms, communication tools, and code repositories. It syncs in real time and respects existing access controls.
Is Onyx secure and compliant?
Yes. Onyx is SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliant. It is built with security as a core priority, featuring granular permissions, secure deployment options, and generative AI safety controls.
How does Onyx ensure accurate answers?
Onyx uses a combination of hybrid search, advanced RAG (retrieval-augmented generation), contextual retrieval, and LLM-based knowledge graphs to ground responses in your team's actual knowledge, minimizing hallucinations.
