head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs aichat
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars, 22,296 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped yesterday. aichat has 10,452 stars, 743 forks, 104 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 1,358% (152,394 vs 10,452 stars). Open WebUI is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; aichat is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. Open WebUI has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, aichat 7%. Open WebUI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (ai, llm, ollama, openai), 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 | aichat | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 152K | ★ 10K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-02-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 22K | ⑂ 743 |
| 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 aichat if
- You want the aichat feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and aichat 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 aichat
AIChat is an all in one LLM command line tool, written in Rust and licensed under Apache 2.0, that gives developers a shell assistant, an interactive chat REPL, retrieval augmented generation, and AI tools and agents through a single terminal interface to more than twenty language model providers.
read the full aichat overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open WebUI or aichat more popular?
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars and aichat has 10,452. Open WebUI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open WebUI and aichat free?
Both are open source. Open WebUI has no licence declared in this registry, and aichat is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Open WebUI and aichat?
Open WebUI is written in Python and aichat in Rust. 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 aichat?
Choose Open WebUI if you want the larger community (152,394 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose aichat if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.