Jan vs Open WebUI
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Open WebUI
Self-hosted chat interface for local and cloud AI models
Free plan
Where they differ
- Only Open WebUI lists a web app.
- Jan is open source, according to its own site.
- Open WebUI is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Open WebUI also covers AI agents.
In commonFree planmacOSWindowsLinuxWorks offlinePublic APIAI featuresChat assistantAI search
At a glance
| Jan | Open WebUI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | Not published |
| Free plan | Jan is free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license, and no account is needed. Cloud models need an API key from the provider you connect. | Free to self-host with the original Open WebUI branding intact, with no account or enterprise agreement. Deployments of 50 or fewer users in a 30-day period may also rebrand. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Menlo Research | Open WebUI, Inc. |
| Price read from | jan.ai | docs.openwebui.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Jan
- Running open models offline on your own computer
- People who want one desktop app for local and cloud models
- Developers who want a local OpenAI-compatible endpoint
Open WebUI
- Teams that want a chat interface running on their own infrastructure
- Using local models from Ollama through a browser interface
- Organizations that need SSO, roles and on-premises or air-gapped deployment
Worth knowing
Jan
- Desktop only, on macOS, Windows and Linux. Intel-based Macs are not supported.
- Local models need memory: Jan's Mac guide suggests 8GB of RAM for 3B models, 16GB for 7B models and 32GB for 13B models.
- Cloud models need your own API key from each provider, and those providers see the messages you send them.
- Cowork and the standalone Jan Agent are previews on nightly builds, and the memory feature is marked as coming soon.
Open WebUI
- There is no hosted service: you install and run it yourself with Docker, pip or Kubernetes, and supply your own models or provider API keys.
- Since v0.6.6 the license is not OSI-approved open source: deployments with more than 50 users must keep the Open WebUI branding unless they hold an enterprise license.
- The desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux is labeled early alpha, and the docs point production deployments to Docker or Python.
- Enterprise license prices are not published, and licenses are sold only to registered organizations, not individuals.
Key features
Jan
- Local models
- Downloads and runs open models such as Llama, Gemma and Qwen from Hugging Face using llama.cpp or MLX. The Hub shows whether each model fits your hardware.
- Cloud providers with your own key
- Connects to OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Mistral AI, Groq, OpenRouter and Azure OpenAI, or to any OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible endpoint, using an API key you supply.
- Built-in web search
- Web search and page fetch tools are on by default for models that support tool use. They run through a keyless Exa endpoint, so no API key or MCP server is needed.
- Projects and assistants
- Projects group conversations under shared instructions and files, and custom assistants keep their own instructions for recurring kinds of work.
- Local API server
- A built-in OpenAI-compatible server at localhost:1337 lets other applications use the models running in Jan, and Claude Code can be set to use them as its backend.
- MCP connectors and Cowork preview
- MCP servers add tools such as code execution and databases. Cowork, which works through multi-step tasks on files and commands, ships only in nightly builds as a preview.
Open WebUI
- Any model in one interface
- Chats with Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic or any OpenAI-compatible provider. You can switch models mid-conversation or run two side by side to compare their answers.
- Knowledge bases and RAG
- Upload files and build knowledge bases searched with hybrid BM25 and vector search, or inject whole documents. The docs list 13 vector databases and 8 extraction engines.
- Web search and code execution
- Models can search the web and cite sources, and run Python in the browser or through Open Terminal, which gives the model a real terminal and filesystem to work in.
- Tools, functions and MCP
- Extend it with Python tools and pipelines, MCP servers and OpenAPI endpoints, or install prompts, models, tools and functions shared by the community.
- Multi-user access control
- Roles, groups and per-model permissions, with SSO through OIDC or LDAP, SCIM 2.0 provisioning and API keys for programmatic access.
- Channels and notes
- Channels are shared spaces where teammates and @-tagged models post in one timeline. Notes is an editor whose pages can be attached to a chat as context.
Plans
Jan
Free$0
The full desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, with local models, cloud provider connections and the local API server.
Open WebUI
Standard UseFree
Self-hosted internal use with the original Open WebUI branding exactly intact. No enterprise agreement is needed.
Enterprise UseCustom
An enterprise license for white-labeling and rebranding, enterprise-only offerings such as Terminals, SLA support and Long-Term Support. Sold to registered organizations.
