head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs Pearl
Open WebUI has 157,575 GitHub stars, 22,923 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pearl has 1,097 stars, 181 forks, 40 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 14,264% (157,575 vs 1,097 stars). Open WebUI is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Pearl is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Open WebUI has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Pearl 16%. Open WebUI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai), 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 | Pearl | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 158K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-04-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 23K | ⑂ 181 |
| 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 Pearl if
- You want the Pearl feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Pearl 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 Pearl
Bubble Lab Open core workflow engine powering Bubble Lab — and fully runnable, hostable, and extensible on its own. Use Bubble Lab Platform • View Demos • Documentation Editing Workflows Running Workflows 📋 Overview Bubble Lab is a Slack native AI operator platform that helps teams automate operational work directly inside Slack using Pearl, its AI assistant. Instead of switching between tools, teams can ask Pearl to execute workflows, access systems, and perform tasks across their stack. This repository contains the open core workflow engine that powers the Bubble Lab platform . It is the same execution engine…
read the full Pearl overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open WebUI or Pearl more popular?
Open WebUI has 157,575 GitHub stars and Pearl has 1,097. Open WebUI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open WebUI and Pearl free?
Both are open source. Open WebUI has no licence declared in this registry, and Pearl is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Open WebUI and Pearl?
Open WebUI is written in Python and Pearl in TypeScript. 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 Pearl?
Choose Open WebUI if you want the larger community (157,575 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Pearl if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.