head to head · open source
chatbox vs ChatUI
chatbox has 42,247 GitHub stars, 4,307 forks, 1,290 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. ChatUI has 4,463 stars, 426 forks, 53 open issues and last shipped 24 days ago. chatbox leads on adoption by 847% (42,247 vs 4,463 stars). chatbox is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; ChatUI is written in TypeScript under MIT. chatbox has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, ChatUI 10%. chatbox was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (chatbot), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| chatbox | ChatUI | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-29 | 2026-10-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.3K | ⑂ 426 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick chatbox if
- You weight community size — 42K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ChatUI if
- You want the ChatUI feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and ChatUI fits your workflow better
About chatbox
English 简体中文 Chatbox (Community Edition) Your Ultimate AI Copilot on the Desktop. Chatbox is a desktop client for ChatGPT, Claude and other LLMs, available on Windows, Mac, Linux This is the repository for the Chatbox Community Edition, open sourced under the GPLv3 license. Chatbox is going open source Again! We regularly sync code from the pro repo to this repo, and vice versa. Download Desktop Windows MacOS Linux Setup.exe Intel Apple Silicon AppImage iOS/Android .APK For more information: chatboxai.app Quick Start For End Users 1. Download the appropriate installer for your platform from the releases page 2…
read the full chatbox overview →
About ChatUI
The UI design language and React library for Conversational UI Website： English 简体中文 Features 😎 Best Practices : The best practice for chat interaction based on our experience of Alime Chatbot 🛡 TypeScript : Written in TypeScript with predictable static types 📱 Responsive : Responsive design to adapt automatically to whatever device ♿ Accessibility : Accessibility support and get the certification from Accessibility Research Association 🎨 Theming : Powerful theme customization in every detail 🌍 International : Internationalization support for dozens of languages Environment Support Modern browsers (support…
read the full ChatUI overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is chatbox or ChatUI more popular?
chatbox has 42,247 GitHub stars and ChatUI has 4,463. chatbox has the larger community by that measure.
Are chatbox and ChatUI free?
Both are open source. chatbox is licensed under GPL-3.0 and ChatUI under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chatbox and ChatUI?
chatbox is written in TypeScript and ChatUI in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, chatbox or ChatUI?
Choose chatbox if you want the larger community (42,247 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose ChatUI if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.