head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs 5ire
Open WebUI has 157,575 GitHub stars, 22,923 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped yesterday. 5ire has 5,373 stars, 442 forks, 75 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 2,833% (157,575 vs 5,373 stars). Open WebUI is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; 5ire is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Open WebUI has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, 5ire 8%. Open WebUI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (llms, mcp), 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
| Open WebUI | 5ire | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 158K | ★ 5.4K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 23K | ⑂ 442 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Open WebUI if
- You weight community size — 158K 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 5ire if
- You want the 5ire feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and 5ire fits your workflow better
About Open WebUI
Open WebUI 👋 Open WebUI is a home for AI , a self hosted AI platform that's extensible , feature rich , user friendly, and built to run entirely offline . With support for Ollama and OpenAI compatible APIs , it gives you a powerful, provider agnostic interface for both local and cloud based models. Passionate about open source AI? Join our team → [!TIP] Looking for an Enterprise Plan? – Speak with Our Sales Team Today! For more information, be sure to check out our Open WebUI Documentation. Key Features of Open WebUI ⭐ 🚀 Effortless Setup : Install seamlessly via pip, uv, Docker, or Kubernetes (kubectl…
read the full Open WebUI overview →
About 5ire
(pronounced "fai er") A Sleek AI Assistant & MCP Client OpenAI / Azure / Anthropic / Google / Mistral / Doubao / Grok / DeepSeek / Ollama Twitter · Releases Before to activating tools feature, ensure the following components are installed: Python Node.js uv (Python package manager) These components are required as they constitute the runtime environment for the MCP Server. If you don't anticipate using the tools feature immediately, you may choose to skip this installation step and complete it later when the need arises. For detailed installation instructions, please see our Installation Guide. 💪 Getting…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open WebUI or 5ire more popular?
Open WebUI has 157,575 GitHub stars and 5ire has 5,373. Open WebUI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open WebUI and 5ire free?
Neither Open WebUI nor 5ire declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Open WebUI and 5ire?
Open WebUI is written in Python and 5ire 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 5ire?
Choose Open WebUI if you want the larger community (157,575 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose 5ire if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.