Open WebUI
AI ToolsA self-hosted AI chat interface for local and cloud models, with multi-user access control.
Self-hostable alternative to:
ChatGPT
What the free edition leaves out
The free edition covers the features teams usually need; we found nothing important held back. “Not confirmed” means the official pages we read did not say, so we do not guess.
| Feature | Free edition | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSO / SAML | Free | The docs list OIDC/OAuth, LDAP and trusted-header sign-in with no enterprise gating. SAML is not mentioned. | Source ↗ |
| Role-based access control | Free | The README lists roles, groups and permissions as core features, plus model-level permissions and workspace isolation. | Source ↗ |
| Audit logs | Free | Request audit logging is off by default; when enabled it writes to a log file. The docs do not gate it behind a paid tier. | Source ↗ |
| Multi-user / teams | Free | Users, roles and groups are core features. The branding rule, not a user cap, is the limit. | Source ↗ |
| Backups and restore | Not confirmed | The quick start only advises backing up the data volume before updates; no built-in backup tool found. | Source ↗ |
| API access | Free | Per-user API keys with bearer authentication inherit the user's role and group permissions; no paid gating mentioned. | Source ↗ |
| Support SLA | Not confirmed | Enterprise offers dedicated support but no response times were stated. Free support is through GitHub, the docs and Discord. | Source ↗ |
Best for
Individuals and teams who want a self-hosted, model-agnostic chat interface for local models and OpenAI-compatible APIs, with multi-user access control.
Why choose it over ChatGPT
It is self-hosted and can run fully offline, so chat data stays on your own infrastructure. It works with local Ollama models and any OpenAI-compatible API instead of one vendor, and the free edition includes multi-user access, roles and groups, LDAP and OIDC sign-in and API keys.
Where it falls short
You run and maintain it yourself, including updates and backups; multi-replica setups need PostgreSQL, Redis and an external vector database. The license has a branding rule: removing or changing the Open WebUI branding is allowed only for 50 or fewer end users in 30 days, with permission, or with an enterprise license. There is no hosted service and no stated support commitment outside the Enterprise plan.
Self-hostable alternative to
- ChatGPT — Open WebUI is a self-hosted chat interface for local and cloud models, so you decide where chats live instead of using OpenAI's hosted ChatGPT.
Category
AI ToolsTopics
Tech stack
Python
JavaScript
TypeScript
DockerLanguages as reported by GitHub for the repository.
