NextChat vs Open WebUI

NextChat

• Developers who want a lightweight chat interface they can deploy themselves
• People with their own API keys who want a small cross-platform client
• Sharing one deployment with others behind an access password

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

NextChat

• Credit prices for the hosted service are shown only at checkout after sign-in; the site publishes no price list.
• The self-hosted app and desktop clients need your own API keys, and each model provider bills usage.
• A local knowledge base is still an open item on the project roadmap.
• Brand customization, permission control and security auditing belong to the Enterprise Edition, which is sold by inquiry.

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.

NextChat

One-click deployment

Deploy your own instance to Vercel in under a minute, or self-host it, and restrict access with passwords set through an environment variable.

Desktop, web and iPhone clients

A compact desktop client of about 5 MB for Windows, macOS and Linux, a responsive web app that installs as a PWA, and an iPhone app on the App Store.

Many providers and self-hosted models

Works with Claude, DeepSeek, GPT and Gemini models and Azure endpoints, and is compatible with self-deployed models through RWKV-Runner or LocalAI.

Prompt templates

Create, share and debug chat tools built on predefined prompts, called masks, with a built-in library of community prompts to start from.

Artifacts and plugins

Preview, copy and share generated content and web pages in a separate window, and add plugins such as network search and a calculator. MCP support is switched on at build time.

Local storage and history compression

All data is stored locally in the browser, and long conversations are compressed automatically to keep context while saving tokens.

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.

NextChat

• Open source$0

  The MIT-licensed web app, deployed to Vercel in one click or self-hosted, plus desktop clients for Windows, macOS and Linux. You supply your own API keys.

• Hosted creditsPay as you go

  Hosted models on nextchat.club are paid for with prepaid credits and no subscription. Prices and credit amounts are shown at checkout after sign-in.

• Enterprise EditionCustom

  Private deployment with brand customization, central management of AI resources, permission control, a company knowledge base and security auditing.

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.