head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs 5ire
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars, 22,296 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped yesterday. 5ire has 5,351 stars, 432 forks, 75 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 2,748% (152,394 vs 5,351 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 | ★ 152K | ★ 5.4K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 22K | ⑂ 432 |
| 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 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 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 5ire
5ire is a cross platform desktop AI assistant and MCP client written in TypeScript, distributed as packaged builds and hosted at 5ire.app. It lives in the AI interaction and interfaces space of the AI and machine learning ecosystem, and it works against the Model Context Protocol, the open protocol that standardizes how applications hand context to large language models. It connects to major service providers — OpenAI, Azure, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, Doubao, Grok, DeepSeek, and Ollama — so one desktop client fronts many backends.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open WebUI or 5ire more popular?
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars and 5ire has 5,351. 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 (152,394 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose 5ire if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.