head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs Cherry Studio
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars, 22,296 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Cherry Studio has 51,923 stars, 4,976 forks, 1,514 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 193% (152,394 vs 51,923 stars). Open WebUI is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Cherry Studio is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Open WebUI has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Cherry Studio 10%. Cherry Studio was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| Open WebUI | Cherry Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 152K | ★ 52K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 22K | ⑂ 5.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Open WebUI if
- You weight community size — 152K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Cherry Studio if
- You want the Cherry Studio feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Cherry Studio fits your workflow better
About Open WebUI
Open WebUI is a self hosted, open source AI interface that unifies access to local and cloud based large language models. It runs entirely in a web browser and supports Ollama for local model hosting alongside any OpenAI compatible API, including services like LMStudio, GroqCloud, Mistral, and OpenRouter. Built in Python, it functions as a drop in replacement for proprietary AI platforms, giving users full control over their model infrastructure and data.
read the full Open WebUI overview →
About Cherry Studio
Cherry Studio is a cross platform desktop application for interacting with large language models, built in TypeScript under the AGPL 3.0 license. It operates in the AI interaction and interfaces ecosystem, providing a unified interface to access cloud hosted models (OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic), web services (Claude, Poe, Perplexity), and locally hosted models via Ollama or LM Studio.
read the full Cherry Studio overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open WebUI or Cherry Studio more popular?
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars and Cherry Studio has 51,923. Open WebUI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open WebUI and Cherry Studio free?
Both are open source. Open WebUI has no licence declared in this registry, and Cherry Studio is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Open WebUI and Cherry Studio?
Open WebUI is written in Python and Cherry Studio 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, Open WebUI or Cherry Studio?
Choose Open WebUI if you want the larger community (152,394 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Cherry Studio if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.