head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs Athena-Public
Open WebUI has 152,426 GitHub stars, 22,301 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped today. Athena-Public has 589 stars, 78 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 25,779% (152,426 vs 589 stars). Open WebUI is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Athena-Public is written in Python under MIT. Open WebUI has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Athena-Public 13%. 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 (ai, llm), 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Open WebUI | Athena-Public | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 152K | ★ 589 |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 22K | ⑂ 78 |
| 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 Athena-Public if
- You want the Athena-Public feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Athena-Public 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 Athena-Public
Project Athena A local first agentic PKM that helps you make better decisions with your own context. Capture what you learn, retrieve it when relevant, and carry your context between models — a local first memory, reasoning, and governance layer for any LLM, across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and whatever you switch to next. Own the state. Rent the intelligence. Platforms forget. Athena doesn't. Most assistants remember you so they can agree with you faster. Athena remembers you so it can tell you when you're wrong. Quickstart · How It Works · Scheduled Tasks & Self RSI · llms.txt · Docs · FAQ · Safety · Contributin…
read the full Athena-Public overview →
More in AI & Machine Learning
Related comparisons
More AI Interaction & Interfaces projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the AI Interaction & Interfaces field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Open WebUI or Athena-Public more popular?
Open WebUI has 152,426 GitHub stars and Athena-Public has 589. Open WebUI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open WebUI and Athena-Public free?
Both are open source. Open WebUI has no licence declared in this registry, and Athena-Public is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Open WebUI and Athena-Public?
Open WebUI is written in Python and Athena-Public in Python. 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 Athena-Public?
Choose Open WebUI if you want the larger community (152,426 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Athena-Public if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.