head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs aidea
Open WebUI has 152,426 GitHub stars, 22,301 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped today. aidea has 6,932 stars, 1,043 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 2,099% (152,426 vs 6,932 stars). Open WebUI is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; aidea is written in Dart under MIT. Open WebUI has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, aidea 15%. Open WebUI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai), 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 | aidea | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 152K | ★ 6.9K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-03-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 22K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| 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 aidea if
- You want the aidea feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and aidea 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 aidea
AIdea is an MIT licensed, open source Flutter application that gathers mainstream large language models and image generation models behind one interface, built both for end users who want a single chat and image client and for operators who would rather run that client on their own infrastructure than depend on a managed cloud service.
read the full aidea overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open WebUI or aidea more popular?
Open WebUI has 152,426 GitHub stars and aidea has 6,932. Open WebUI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open WebUI and aidea free?
Both are open source. Open WebUI has no licence declared in this registry, and aidea is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Open WebUI and aidea?
Open WebUI is written in Python and aidea in Dart. 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 aidea?
Choose Open WebUI if you want the larger community (152,426 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose aidea if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.