head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs Langchain-Chatchat
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars, 22,296 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Langchain-Chatchat has 38,641 stars, 6,263 forks, 26 open issues and last shipped 10 months ago. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 294% (152,394 vs 38,641 stars). Open WebUI is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Langchain-Chatchat is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Open WebUI has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Langchain-Chatchat 16%. 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.
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Side by side
| Open WebUI | Langchain-Chatchat | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 152K | ★ 39K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2025-11-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 22K | ⑂ 6.3K |
| 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 Langchain-Chatchat if
- You want the Langchain-Chatchat feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Langchain-Chatchat 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 Langchain-Chatchat
Langchain Chatchat (formerly Langchain ChatGLM) is an open source RAG and Agent application built on the Langchain framework and designed to run against local large language models such as ChatGLM, Qwen, and Llama. It lives in the Python ecosystem, is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license, and is published on PyPI as langchain chatchat . The project targets Chinese language scenarios and open source models specifically, with the stated goal of providing a knowledge base question answering solution that can run entirely offline.
read the full Langchain-Chatchat overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open WebUI or Langchain-Chatchat more popular?
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars and Langchain-Chatchat has 38,641. Open WebUI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open WebUI and Langchain-Chatchat free?
Both are open source. Open WebUI has no licence declared in this registry, and Langchain-Chatchat is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Open WebUI and Langchain-Chatchat?
Open WebUI is written in Python and Langchain-Chatchat 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 Langchain-Chatchat?
Choose Open WebUI if you want the larger community (152,394 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Langchain-Chatchat if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.