head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs Onyx
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars, 22,296 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Onyx has 32,143 stars, 4,477 forks, 451 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 374% (152,394 vs 32,143 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 | ★ 152K | ★ 32K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 22K | ⑂ 4.5K |
| 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 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 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 Onyx
Onyx is an open source AI application layer that gives teams a self hostable chat interface with retrieval augmented generation over their own company data and more than 50 indexing connectors.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open WebUI or Onyx more popular?
Open WebUI has 152,394 GitHub stars and Onyx has 32,143. 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 (152,394 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Onyx if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.