Open WebUI open-webui/open-webui

Self-hosted AI chat platform for Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs, with RAG over your files, web search and multi-user admin.

Creator kit + Compare GitHub ↗ Install guide (official) ↗

Open WebUI at a glance

Checked 15 Oct 2026

Open WebUI is a self-hosted chat interface that talks to local Ollama models or any OpenAI-compatible API, with document RAG, web search via SearXNG and others, voice, and multi-user RBAC. Install via pip (Python 3.11/3.12) or Docker, including a bundled-Ollama image. It ships no model weights: answer quality and the weights licence depend on the model you connect. Licence is NOT plain BSD any more: the custom Open WebUI License forbids removing its branding for deployments over 50 users in 30 days without permission or an enterprise licence.

Cite this pageRepoQuarry. “Open WebUI.” Checked 15 Oct 2026. https://repoquarry.dev/projects/open-webui

How much of ChatGPT Plus does it replace?

3 of 3 jobs. Replaces the chat interface; answer quality depends on the model you run. Local models are generally less capable than paid frontier models.

Chat assistant Partial replacement

Chat with your documents Partial replacement

Web search answers Partial replacement

How much of Perplexity Pro does it replace?

1 of 3 jobs. Web search injected into chat via SearXNG and other providers; answer quality depends on the model you run.

Web search answers Partial replacement

Chat assistant Not covered

Chat with your documents Not covered

Facts, with sources

Every answer links to where we found it. We read the documentation; we did not install it.

Report a correction

QuestionAnswerSourceChecked

Runs on my machine? Yes, self-hosted web app via pip or Docker; can run fully offline a self-hosted AI platform that's extensible, feature-rich, user-friendly, and built to run entirely offline. github.com · open-webui#readme ↗ 1d ago

Code licence Open WebUI License (BSD-3 style + branding clause); not OSI-approved Clause 4 bars altering or removing "Open WebUI" branding unless end users stay at or under fifty (50) in any rolling thirty (30) day period, or you have written permission or an enterprise licence. Code before the change stays under the prior BSD-3 terms (LICENSE_HISTORY). github.com · LICENSE ↗ 1d ago

Model weights licence No bundled weights; licence depends on the model you connect Connect any OpenAI-compatible API alongside local Ollama models. github.com · open-webui#readme ↗ 1d ago

Commercial use Yes, but branding must stay above 50 users/30 days unless enterprise licence For all other cases, any removal or alteration of the "Open WebUI" branding shall constitute a material breach of license. github.com · LICENSE ↗ 1d ago

Paid services needed? None required with local Ollama; paid APIs and Enterprise plan optional This installation method uses a single container image that bundles Open WebUI with Ollama github.com · open-webui#installing-open-webui-with-bundled-ollama-support ↗ 1d ago

Hardware GPU optional (CUDA image falls back to CPU); RAM not documented; depends on model If no GPU is visible, the image falls back to the CPU without an error. docs.openwebui.com · quick-start ↗ 1d ago

Operating systems macOS, Linux (x86_64, ARM64) and Windows (Docker via WSL) Open WebUI works on macOS, Linux (x86_64 and ARM64, including Raspberry Pi and NVIDIA DGX Spark), and Windows. docs.openwebui.com · quick-start ↗ 1d ago

Setup effort Easy; pip install open-webui (Python 3.11) or one Docker command Open WebUI can be installed using pip, the Python package installer. github.com · open-webui#how-to-install- ↗ 1d ago