Minimal Autograd Engines ML Frameworks

Educational implementations of automatic differentiation and backpropagation from scratch in various programming languages. Includes tiny scalar-valued autograd libraries and their neural network extensions. Does NOT include full-featured ML frameworks, bindings to existing libraries, or specialized autodiff systems (like AD for specific domains).

There are 70 minimal autograd engines frameworks tracked. 2 score above 50 (established tier). The highest-rated is JonathanRaiman/theano_lstm at 59/100 with 303 stars.

Get all 70 projects as JSON

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#	Framework	Score	Tier	Stars	Language
1	JonathanRaiman/theano_lstm :microscope: Nano size Theano LSTM module	59	Established	303	Python
2	google/tangent Source-to-Source Debuggable Derivatives in Pure Python	50	Established	2,316	Python
3	ahrefs/ocannl OCANNL: OCaml Compiles Algorithms for Neural Networks Learning	47	Emerging	102	OCaml
4	yoshoku/numo-openblas Numo::OpenBLAS builds and uses OpenBLAS as a background library for Numo::Linalg	46	Emerging	6	Ruby
5	statusfailed/catgrad a categorical deep learning compiler	45	Emerging	208	Python
6	pranftw/neograd A deep learning framework created from scratch with Python and NumPy	44	Emerging	238	Python
7	mstksg/backprop Heterogeneous automatic differentiation ("backpropagation") in Haskell	43	Emerging	193	Haskell
8	yoshoku/numo-blis Numo::BLIS builds and uses BLIS as a background library for Numo::Linalg	41	Emerging	4	Ruby
9	LaurentMazare/ocaml-torch OCaml bindings for PyTorch	41	Emerging	439	OCaml
10	pedrogleta/microgradts A tiny Autograd engine based off of Andrej Karpathy's micrograd in Python	40	Emerging	3	JavaScript
11	crystal-data/num.cr Scientific computing in pure Crystal	38	Emerging	160	Crystal
12	trekhleb/micrograd-ts 🤖 A TypeScript version of karpathy/micrograd — a tiny scalar-valued autograd...	38	Emerging	72	TypeScript
13	ZigaSajovic/dCpp Automatic differentiation in C++; infinite differentiability of...	37	Emerging	151	C++
14	ggsharma/microgradpp A header-only C++ autograd engine and neural network library inspired by...	37	Emerging	15	C++
15	dmaivel/cugrad An automatic differentiation library written in C++ and CUDA	35	Emerging	10	C++
16	DACUS1995/gradflow A small, educational autograd system with deep neural networks support	35	Emerging	13	Python
17	Habrador/MicrogradCSharp The easiest way to build Neural Networks in C# within Unity. The open-source...	35	Emerging	10	C#
18	rjkilpatrick/dlearn High-level Deep learning, Linear algebra and scientific computing package in D	34	Emerging	9	D
19	tanaymeh/nadl A small framework that can perform automatic differentiation to calculate...	34	Emerging	18	Python
20	eduardoleao052/Autograd-from-scratch Documented and Unit Tested educational Deep Learning framework with Autograd...	33	Emerging	125	Python
21	CMU-IDeeL/new_grad A new lightweight auto-differentation library that directly builds on numpy....	32	Emerging	40	Python
22	nicolamaritan/cgrad Deep Learning library for the C programming language.	32	Emerging	2	C
23	KyleCr4ne/autograd Auto differentiation engine core [C++]	31	Emerging	4	C++
24	ocramz/ad-delcont Reverse-mode automatic differentiation with delimited continuations	31	Emerging	16	Haskell
25	ameritusweb/ParallelReverseAutoDiff Parallel Reverse Mode Automatic Differentiation in C# for Custom Neural...	31	Emerging	9	C#
26	noway/yagrad yet another scalar autograd engine - featuring complex numbers and fixed DAG	30	Emerging	26	Python
27	lipeeeee/monograd Tensors and Dynamic neural networks in Python	30	Emerging	4	Python
28	hikettei/cl-waffe [Deprecated] Common Lisp Differentiable Matrix Operations for Mathematical...	29	Experimental	48	Common Lisp
29	b-ionut-r/neurograd A Pure Python Deep Learning Framework with Automatic Differentiation and...	28	Experimental	2	Jupyter Notebook
30	can-lehmann/exprgrad An experimental deep learning framework for Nim based on a differentiable...	28	Experimental	121	Nim
31	cloudkj/lambda-autodiff A library for automatic differentiation in Clojure	27	Experimental	1	Clojure
32	eliben/radgrad Tracing-based reverse mode automatic differentiation (like autograd!)	27	Experimental	27	Python
33	MiquelNasarre/macrograd Macrograd ― CUDA/C++ autograd tensor library. Inspired by micrograd. Used to...	26	Experimental	2	C++
34	Ruhaan838/CGrad If you like Pytorch, if you like C, you Love CGrad	26	Experimental	1	Cython
35	save-buffer/gigagrad A small deep learning library that goes gigafast (not yet though).	26	Experimental	5	C++
36	SermetPekin/microgradCpp MicrogradCPP: A tiny micrograd, inspired by Karpathy's micrograd in python	24	Experimental	2	C++
37	SwiftAutograd/SwiftGrad A tiny autograd engine and neural network library in Swift. Inspired by...	24	Experimental	2	Swift
38	shettysach/ferrograd Small scalar autograd engine, inspired from Karpathy's micrograd, with some...	24	Experimental	5	Rust
39	pit-ray/vim-autograd Automatic differentiation library written in pure Vim script.	23	Experimental	28	Vim Script
40	Leonardo16AM/Sharp-Grad Sharp Grad is a lightweight automatic differentiation library in C#. It's...	23	Experimental	4	C#
41	Samanvith1404/MicroGNN A tiny Graph Neural Network framework built from scratch with a minimal...	23	Experimental	8	Python
42	Anri-Lombard/micrograd Building Andrej Kapathy's micrograd from scratch	23	Experimental	47	Jupyter Notebook
43	load1n9/denograd pytorch's autograd deno implementation	23	Experimental	4	TypeScript
44	khisr0w/grazie Pure C tensor and autograd library for training neural networks	21	Experimental	9	C
45	boosterrr008/AutoGrad-Engine 🤖 Implement a pure C# GPT language model for training and inference with no...	21	Experimental	—	C#
46	Shrimp-AI/shrimpgrad Yet another tensor library	21	Experimental	11	Python
47	iraikov/nanograd Minimalistic automatic differentiation framework in Scheme	21	Experimental	—	Tree-sitter Query
48	fszewczyk/shkyera-grad micrograd, but in C++ and better	20	Experimental	7	C++
49	marfvr/micrograd-js A porting of Karpathy's Micrograd to JS	20	Experimental	8	TypeScript
50	luigi-ga/gradients_without_backpropagation Unofficial implementation of the paper "gradients without backpropagation"	20	Experimental	6	Jupyter Notebook
51	gn0rrbitberrenbur/yasae Educational Scalar-Based Autograd Engine in C++ with Python Bindings	19	Experimental	—	Python
52	Ruhaan838/AnyGrad A Tensor module that allows a deep learning framework to switch seamlessly...	19	Experimental	1	C++
53	nithinbekal/micrograd A tiny autograd engine in ruby	18	Experimental	2	Ruby
54	ANSHAM1/RADE RADE is a from-scratch reverse-mode automatic differentiation engine written...	18	Experimental	1	C++
55	slamko/ocadl Blazingly type safe GPU accelerated Multi-Layer Perceptron	18	Experimental	2	OCaml
56	ArulselvanMadhavan/mini_dalle mini-dalle in OCaml	18	Experimental	39	OCaml
57	mcemilg/minigrad.hpp A minimal autograd lib in c++ std.	18	Experimental	2	C++
58	Marviel/lab-grad An Automated Differentiation library (like Pytorch🔥) in Typescript, for...	18	Experimental	22	TypeScript
59	MichaelRinger/micrograd-php Micrograd implementation in PHP.	18	Experimental	2	PHP
60	tbox98/freegrad PyTorch extension for alternative backward rules and gradient transforms...	17	Experimental	—	Python
61	stefanasandei/tiny-autograd small autograd engine built from scratch in modern C++	17	Experimental	1	C++
62	tensorworksio/cgrad Intended to be a Torch-like autograd engine, inspired by micrograd	17	Experimental	3	C
63	jewelltaylor/camlgrad Toy autograd engine in OCaml with Apple Accelerate backend	15	Experimental	30	OCaml
64	Shubbair/MicroGrad-JS making MicroGrad with Javascript & Interactive Website to show Realtime...	13	Experimental	—	HTML
65	mohamedrxo/simplegrad SimpleGrad – a minimal NumPy-based autograd and neural network framework for...	13	Experimental	8	Jupyter Notebook
66	GravermanDev/made_with_tinygrad Models and papers implemented in Tinygrad	11	Experimental	—	—
67	szaman19/Delta A templated extendible modular automatic gradient and neural network library in C++	11	Experimental	—	C++
68	DevangK18/Foundry A deep learning framework built from scratch in Python and NumPy to...	11	Experimental	—	Python
69	sriom1/micrograd This is an implementation of a simple autograd engine and neural network...	10	Experimental	1	Jupyter Notebook
70	Muawiya-contact/-micrograd-mini # The is a micrograd-mini. Inspired by Andrej Karpathy.	10	Experimental	1	Python

Comparisons in this category

microgradts and micrograd-ts (40 vs 38) numo-openblas and numo-blis (46 vs 41)