head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs magentic
Open WebUI has 157,575 GitHub stars, 22,923 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped yesterday. magentic has 2,428 stars, 133 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 6,390% (157,575 vs 2,428 stars). Open WebUI is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; magentic is written in Python under MIT. Open WebUI has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, magentic 5%. Open WebUI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (ai, llm, 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 | magentic | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 158K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 23K | ⑂ 133 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Open WebUI if
- You weight community size — 158K 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 magentic if
- You want the magentic feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and magentic fits your workflow better
About Open WebUI
Open WebUI 👋 Open WebUI is a home for AI , a self hosted AI platform that's extensible , feature rich , user friendly, and built to run entirely offline . With support for Ollama and OpenAI compatible APIs , it gives you a powerful, provider agnostic interface for both local and cloud based models. Passionate about open source AI? Join our team → [!TIP] Looking for an Enterprise Plan? – Speak with Our Sales Team Today! For more information, be sure to check out our Open WebUI Documentation. Key Features of Open WebUI ⭐ 🚀 Effortless Setup : Install seamlessly via pip, uv, Docker, or Kubernetes (kubectl…
read the full Open WebUI overview →
About magentic
magentic Seamlessly integrate Large Language Models into Python code. Use the @prompt and @chatprompt decorators to create functions that return structured output from an LLM. Combine LLM queries and tool use with traditional Python code to build complex agentic systems. Features [Structured Outputs] using pydantic models and built in python types. [Streaming] of structured outputs and function calls, to use them while being generated. [LLM Assisted Retries] to improve LLM adherence to complex output schemas. [Observability] using OpenTelemetry, with native [Pydantic Logfire integration]. [Type Annotations] to…
read the full magentic overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open WebUI or magentic more popular?
Open WebUI has 157,575 GitHub stars and magentic has 2,428. Open WebUI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open WebUI and magentic free?
Both are open source. Open WebUI has no licence declared in this registry, and magentic is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Open WebUI and magentic?
Open WebUI is written in Python and magentic 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 magentic?
Choose Open WebUI if you want the larger community (157,575 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose magentic if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.