head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs claude-chat-exporter
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars, 22,296 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped yesterday. claude-chat-exporter has 690 stars, 79 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 21,986% (152,394 vs 690 stars). Open WebUI is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; claude-chat-exporter is written in JavaScript under MIT. Open WebUI has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, claude-chat-exporter 11%. Open WebUI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | claude-chat-exporter | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 152K | ★ 690 |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 22K | ⑂ 79 |
| 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 claude-chat-exporter if
- You want the claude-chat-exporter feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and claude-chat-exporter 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 claude-chat-exporter
claude chat exporter is a browser based, privacy first exporter that turns Claude.ai conversations into clean Markdown files with their artifacts, attachments and timestamps intact, built for people who archive chats into an Obsidian vault or feed them into a RAG pipeline.
read the full claude-chat-exporter 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 claude-chat-exporter more popular?
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars and claude-chat-exporter has 690. Open WebUI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open WebUI and claude-chat-exporter free?
Both are open source. Open WebUI has no licence declared in this registry, and claude-chat-exporter is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Open WebUI and claude-chat-exporter?
Open WebUI is written in Python and claude-chat-exporter in JavaScript. 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 claude-chat-exporter?
Choose Open WebUI if you want the larger community (152,394 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose claude-chat-exporter if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.