Open WebUI

A self-hosted, ChatGPT-style web interface for local and cloud AI models.

Open sourceSelf-hostableAI chatbots and assistants

Verified facts: 5 of 5
Alternatives ranked: 7
Approved reviews: 0
Visits sent from here: 0

About Open WebUI

Open WebUI is a self-hosted AI platform that gives you a ChatGPT-like interface on your own server or computer. It connects to Ollama for local models and to any OpenAI-compatible API for cloud models, and adds user accounts and permissions, document chat with retrieval, web search, tools, pipelines and image generation. It is designed to run entirely offline, which makes it popular with homelab users, privacy-conscious teams and organisations that want to give staff a shared AI workspace without sending data to a vendor. It installs with Docker, Kubernetes or pip. The licence is permissive but not plain open source any more: from version 0.6.6 it adds a branding clause that stops larger deployments, of 50 or more users, from removing Open WebUI's branding without an enterprise licence. Setting it up and keeping it updated takes some technical skill. The software is free; enterprise licences and support are sold separately.

Best for: Teams and homelab users who want a private, self-hosted ChatGPT-style workspace.

What works

Runs fully offline on your own hardware
Works with Ollama and any OpenAI-compatible API
Multi-user accounts, RAG and tools built in

Why people leave

Needs technical skill to host and update
Branding clause applies to deployments of 50+ users
Feature-heavy interface can feel busy

Top Open WebUI alternatives

See all 7

1
LibreChat
MIT-licensed, multi-user alternative with strong agent and MCP support.
66.5
2
LobeHub
Self-hostable multi-model chat with a slick interface and a hosted option.
62.6
3
AnythingLLM
Easier desktop or Docker setup focused on document chat.
59.6
4
HuggingChat
Hugging Face's open-source Chat UI, also self-hostable.
57.2
5
LM Studio
Simpler single-user desktop app for running local models.
55.3

Why people left Open WebUI

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Open WebUI: common questions

Is Open WebUI free?

Yes. Open WebUI is free, open-source software that you can host yourself.

Is Open WebUI open source?

Yes. The source code is on GitHub at open-webui/open-webui. You can also run it on your own server.

What platforms does Open WebUI run on?

Open WebUI is available for Self-hosted and Web.

What are the best alternatives to Open WebUI?

The highest-ranked Open WebUI alternatives right now are LibreChat, LobeHub and AnythingLLM. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.

See all 7 Open WebUI alternatives

Open WebUI facts

5 of 5 verified

Self-hosting: Yes, runs entirely offline; Checked Oct 25, 2026docs.openwebui.com(opens source in a new tab); “a self-hosted AI platform that's extensible , feature-rich , user-friendly, and built to run entirely offline .”
Model support: Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs; Checked Oct 25, 2026docs.openwebui.com(opens source in a new tab); “With support for Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs”
Install options: Docker, Kubernetes, pip; Checked Oct 25, 2026docs.openwebui.com(opens source in a new tab); “Open WebUI runs anywhere (Docker, Kubernetes, pip, bare metal)”
Branding clause: Applies at 50+ users; Checked Oct 25, 2026docs.openwebui.com(opens source in a new tab); “Branding requirements only apply to larger deployments (50+ users, aggregate) .”
License: BSD-3 with branding clause; Checked Oct 25, 2026docs.openwebui.com(opens source in a new tab); “The original BSD-3 license continues to apply for all contributions made to the codebase up to and including release v0.6.5.”