What is Open WebUI? Facts, license and pricing (Oct 2026)
Open WebUI is self-hosted AI platform: a web interface that connects to Ollama and OpenAI-compatible models, under its own Open WebUI License. License: Open WebUI License (custom; read it before commercial use). Its GitHub repository (open-webui/open-webui) had 156,757 stars on Oct 25, 2026. Facts were read from official pages on Oct 25, 2026 and are Reported, not Tested.
Evidence: Reported. Everything here was read from Open WebUI's own pages and the public GitHub API on 2026-10-25 (America/Chicago). We have not run Open WebUI for this page, so it says nothing about quality or speed.
What Open WebUI is
Open WebUI's site pitches a self-hosted AI platform you run on your own machine and connect to any model. The repository's license file is a custom 'Open WebUI License' (BSD-style terms with additional conditions), not a standard OSI license; v0.12.4 was tagged Oct 25, 2026.
We list Open WebUI under Local LLMs and model platforms.
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Open WebUI key facts
| Feature | Open WebUI |
|---|---|
| Vendor | Open WebUI |
| License | Open WebUI License (custom; read it before commercial use) |
| Platforms | Self-hosted (Docker and others) |
| Pricing model | Free self-hosted |
| Free tier | Free to self-host |
| GitHub | open-webui/open-webui: 156,757 stars, last push Oct 25, 2026 (GitHub API, Oct 25, 2026) |
| Latest release we saw | v0.12.4 on Oct 25, 2026 |
| Evidence | Reported from vendor pages |
Who Open WebUI is for
- Good for: Teams that want a self-hosted chat UI.
- Good for: Ollama users who want a browser interface.
- Skip if: You need a standard OSI license for your own distribution.
How to start with Open WebUI
- Follow the install guide on openwebui.com (Docker is the common route) and connect a model backend.
Open WebUI alternatives
- Ollama: The common way to run open models locally on macOS, Windows and Linux, with a cloud option and an MIT-licensed open-source core.
- Jan: Open-source alternative to ChatGPT that runs open models locally or connects to cloud models like GPT and Claude.
- Dify: Open-source platform for building LLM apps and agent workflows with a visual canvas; licensed under a modified Apache 2.0 with extra conditions.
What we did not verify
- Enterprise pricing.
- Output quality, speed and reliability of Open WebUI: we have not run it for this page.
FAQ
What is Open WebUI?
Open WebUI's site pitches a self-hosted AI platform you run on your own machine and connect to any model. The repository's license file is a custom 'Open WebUI License' (BSD-style terms with additional conditions), not a standard OSI license; v0.12.4 was tagged Oct 25, 2026.
What license is Open WebUI under?
Open WebUI License (custom; read it before commercial use). Read from the project's own pages on Oct 25, 2026.
Is Open WebUI free?
Free to self-host. Checked Oct 25, 2026; prices change, so confirm on the vendor's page.
Sources
- Open WebUI (fetched 2026-10-25)
- Open WebUI license (fetched 2026-10-25)
- Open WebUI repository (GitHub) (fetched 2026-10-25)
Related
Page history
- : First published from official pages read on 2026-10-25.
Markdown version for agents: /what-is/open-webui.md
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