Open WebUI

A self-hosted chat interface for local and cloud language models, working with Ollama and any OpenAI-compatible API, with users, roles and document chat.

157k stars, 22.9k forks Python On GitHub since October 2023

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

What is Open WebUI?

Open WebUI gives you a ChatGPT-style interface on your own server. It talks to local models through Ollama and to any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, such as LM Studio, vLLM, Mistral or OpenRouter, so you can mix providers in one place. Administrators manage users, groups and permissions, and people can chat with uploaded documents, backed by a choice of nine vector databases, or search the web through providers such as SearXNG and Brave. It can run fully offline, and the interface is translated into about 50 languages.

Good fit if

  • You run Ollama or another local model server and want a polished front end for a team.
  • You need role-based access control and user groups for an internal AI service.
  • You want document chat and web search without building them yourself.

Look elsewhere if

Before you adopt it

Since April 2025 the Open WebUI License adds a branding clause to a BSD base: deployments with more than 50 users in 30 days may not remove or change the Open WebUI branding without an enterprise license. That makes it not open source by the OSI definition. Outside code is accepted under a contributor license agreement.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 30 October 2026. Report a correction

Open WebUI health: is it still maintained?

76 of 100, actively developed

  • Activity
    2,243 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 29 October 2026.
    30 / 30
  • Contributors
    7 people wrote the latest 100 commits; the most active wrote 37% of them.
    12 / 20
  • Releases
    15 releases in the last 12 months; the latest, v0.12.5, on 29 October 2026.
    19 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Too few recent issues from outside the team to measure, so this part gets a neutral score.
    10 / 20
  • Security practices
    No OpenSSF Scorecard for this repository yet, so this part gets a neutral score.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 1 November 2026. How the score works

Open WebUI license: is it open source?

Open WebUI uses Open WebUI License. It is source-available, not an OSI-approved open-source license: the code is public, but the license restricts how you may use it, usually commercially. Contributors sign a contributor license agreement, which lets the owner relicense their work later.

  1. October 2023First published on GitHub under BSD.
  2. 18 April 2025Changed to Open WebUI License. Commit: chore: license "branding" clause
  3. TodayOpen WebUI License. A contributor license agreement is required.

How to run Open WebUI yourself

Docker
Dockerfile or compose file in the repository
Compose file
docker-compose.yaml: 2 services
Setup effort
2 of 5, judged from the compose file
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
No app builds in GitHub releases
Interface languages
50 languages

Install instructions: openwebui.com or the README on GitHub.

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Questions about Open WebUI

Is Open WebUI open source?

Not by the OSI definition. Open WebUI uses Open WebUI License, which makes the code public but restricts how it may be used.

Is Open WebUI still maintained?

Its health score is 76 of 100 (actively developed). It had 2,243 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 29 October 2026, and its latest release came out on 29 October 2026.

Did Open WebUI change its license?

Yes. It moved from BSD to Open WebUI License on 18 April 2025.

How do I run Open WebUI?

You can run it with Docker. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What are the alternatives to Open WebUI?

Close alternatives in the AI chat & local LLMs category include Onyx, LibreChat, FastGPT.