Msty vs Open WebUI

Msty

• Individuals who want local and hosted models in one desktop app
• Privacy-sensitive work where data should stay on the device
• Buyers who prefer a one-time lifetime license to a subscription

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

Msty

• Msty's terms limit the Free tier to personal, non-commercial use; work that earns revenue requires an Aurum or Enterprise license.
• The browser version, Msty Studio Web, needs an Aurum license, and several Free-plan features, including Knowledge Stacks and MCP tools, are marked Limited.
• Data does not sync between devices, an Aurum license covers 2 desktop devices, and Enterprise & Teams plans start at 5 user seats.
• Msty states that formal SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certification are not yet complete.

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.

Msty

Local and online models in one hub

Runs local models through Ollama, llama.cpp and MLX and connects hosted providers, so both kinds sit in the same organized model list.

Split Chats

Runs models side by side on the same conversation so you can compare tone, depth and accuracy without losing context.

Agent Mode

Carries out multi-step, tool-aware tasks instead of single prompts. MCP tools are connected through the Toolbox, which is limited on the Free plan.

Knowledge Stacks

Grounds answers in your own documents and notes with organized, source-aware retrieval. The feature is marked Limited on the Free plan.

Personas and Crew Conversations

Personas are reusable assistants built in Persona Studio, and Crew Conversations put several of them in one thread to work on a task together.

Data kept on your device

Studio stores data locally and does not sync it between devices; Studio Web keeps its data in the browser's local storage. Msty says it sends no product telemetry.

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.

Msty

• Free$0

  Core Studio Desktop features for personal, non-commercial use: chat with local and online models, persona and crew conversations, Agent Mode and Knowledge Stacks.

• Aurum$149

  per user / year, billed yearly

  A commercial license for one user on up to 2 desktop devices. Adds Msty Studio Web, Azure and Bedrock providers, Studio Assistants, Shadow Personas, Turnstiles and Insights.

• Aurum Lifetime$349

  per user, one-time payment

  The Aurum feature set with lifetime access and updates, for one user on up to 2 desktop devices. Msty's terms say it is protected from later price increases.

• Enterprise & TeamsCustom

  Minimum of 5 user seats, with SSO, user and team management, role-based access control, an audit log and shared team resources.

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.

Msty

• Lifetime license

  Aurum Lifetime for a one-time payment

  Aurum Lifetime costs $349 per user once and includes lifetime updates and access, against $149 per user per year for the Aurum subscription.

• Other savings

  Enterprise bundle across Msty products

  Msty offers a single enterprise agreement that combines Studio, Go, Nexus and Stack, priced by seat count and deployment shape instead of as separate product plans.

Open WebUI

No public discounts listed.