head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs Onyx
Open WebUI has 157,575 GitHub stars, 22,923 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Onyx has 33,170 stars, 4,692 forks, 451 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 375% (157,575 vs 33,170 stars). Open WebUI is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Onyx is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence. Open WebUI has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Onyx 14%. Onyx was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (ai, llm, llm-ui, rag), 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 | Onyx | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 158K | ★ 33K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 23K | ⑂ 4.7K |
| 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 Onyx if
- You want the Onyx feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Onyx 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 Onyx
Onyx The Open Source AI Platform Onyx is the application layer for LLMs bringing a feature rich interface that can be easily hosted by anyone. Onyx enables LLMs through advanced capabilities like RAG, web search, code execution, file creation, deep research and more. Connect your applications with over 50+ indexing based connectors provided out of the box or via MCP. [!TIP] Deploy with a single command: ⭐ Features 🔍 Agentic RAG: Get best in class search and answer quality based on hybrid index + AI Agents for information retrieval Benchmark to release soon! 🔬 Deep Research: Get in depth reports with a multi…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open WebUI or Onyx more popular?
Open WebUI has 157,575 GitHub stars and Onyx has 33,170. Open WebUI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open WebUI and Onyx free?
Neither Open WebUI nor Onyx declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Open WebUI and Onyx?
Open WebUI is written in Python and Onyx 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 Onyx?
Choose Open WebUI if you want the larger community (157,575 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Onyx if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.