head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs chatbox
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars, 22,296 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chatbox has 41,791 stars, 4,252 forks, 1,290 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 265% (152,394 vs 41,791 stars). Open WebUI is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; chatbox is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. Open WebUI has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, chatbox 10%. 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 (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 | chatbox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 152K | ★ 42K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 22K | ⑂ 4.3K |
| 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 chatbox if
- You want the chatbox feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and chatbox 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 chatbox
Chatbox (Community Edition) is a cross platform desktop client for large language models, written in TypeScript and released under the GPL 3.0 license. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and it connects to a range of providers including OpenAI (ChatGPT), Azure OpenAI, Claude, Google Gemini Pro, Ollama and ChatGLM 6B. The project lives in the AI interaction and interfaces ecosystem, where desktop chat front ends sit between a user and one or more hosted or locally hosted model APIs. The repository carries 41,767 stars and 4,251 forks across four years of history.
read the full chatbox overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open WebUI or chatbox more popular?
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars and chatbox has 41,791. Open WebUI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open WebUI and chatbox free?
Both are open source. Open WebUI has no licence declared in this registry, and chatbox is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Open WebUI and chatbox?
Open WebUI is written in Python and chatbox 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 chatbox?
Choose Open WebUI if you want the larger community (152,394 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose chatbox if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.