head to head · open source
Open WebUI vs Risuai
Open WebUI has 152,426 GitHub stars, 22,301 forks, 294 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Risuai has 1,688 stars, 349 forks, 160 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Open WebUI leads on adoption by 8,930% (152,426 vs 1,688 stars). Open WebUI is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Risuai is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. Open WebUI has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Risuai 21%. 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, mcp), 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 | Risuai | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 152K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 22K | ⑂ 349 |
| 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 Risuai if
- You want the Risuai feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Risuai 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 Risuai
Risuai is a cross platform, open source AI chat and roleplay client, written in TypeScript with Svelte and Tauri and licensed under GPL 3.0, for people who want to run character driven conversations against the language model of their choice instead of a single vendor's locked down chat window.
read the full Risuai overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open WebUI or Risuai more popular?
Open WebUI has 152,426 GitHub stars and Risuai has 1,688. Open WebUI has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open WebUI and Risuai free?
Both are open source. Open WebUI has no licence declared in this registry, and Risuai is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Open WebUI and Risuai?
Open WebUI is written in Python and Risuai 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 Risuai?
Choose Open WebUI if you want the larger community (152,426 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Risuai if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.