LibreChat 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 macOS, Windows and Linux apps.
- LibreChat is open source, according to its own site.
In commonFree planWebSelf-hostableAI featuresChat assistantAI searchAI agents
At a glance
| LibreChat | Open WebUI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | Not published |
| Free plan | Free and open source under the MIT license, with no subscriptions. You host it yourself and add your own model API keys; a public demo is offered for evaluation only. | 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 | LibreChat (ClickHouse) | Open WebUI, Inc. |
| Price read from | librechat.ai | docs.openwebui.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
LibreChat
- Teams that want a self-hosted chat interface they can audit and extend
- Organizations that need SSO and control over where chat data lives
- Using API keys from several model providers in one place
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
LibreChat
- It is a self-hosted web application: the docs say there is no native Windows app or Linux AppImage, and no hosted paid plan is offered.
- You run it yourself with Docker, npm or a Helm chart and supply your own model API keys.
- The public demo at chat.librechat.ai is for evaluation only and is not meant for private data.
- The code interpreter, message search and file chat rely on extra services you deploy: a code-execution service, Meilisearch and the RAG API.
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
LibreChat
- Many providers in one interface
- Works with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Azure and AWS Bedrock out of the box, and custom endpoints add Ollama, Mistral AI, OpenRouter and other services.
- Agents
- Build custom assistants with tools, file handling, code execution and API actions without writing code.
- Code Interpreter
- Runs Python, JavaScript, Go, Rust and other languages in a sandbox. It is powered by an Apache 2.0 code-execution service that you deploy and point LibreChat at.
- MCP and web search
- Connects models to external tools through Model Context Protocol servers and gives any model live internet access with built-in search and reranking.
- Artifacts and chat tools
- Generates React components, HTML pages and Mermaid diagrams in chat, and supports forking, shareable links, temporary chats and importing conversations from ChatGPT.
- Multi-user authentication
- Sign-in through OAuth2, SAML or LDAP with two-factor authentication, plus an admin panel for users, roles and configuration, and moderation tools.
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
LibreChat
Free$0
The full self-hosted application, including agents, the code interpreter, MCP, web search and SSO, under the MIT license.
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.
