Open WebUI vs Ollama
A side-by-side comparison of two open-source tools to help you choose the right one.
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summary | A polished, self-hosted chat UI for any LLM. | Run open LLMs locally with a single command. |
| GitHub stars | 98K | 175K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Pricing | Free & Open Source | Free & Open Source |
| Self-hostable | ||
| Replaces | ChatGPT, Claude | ChatGPT, Claude |
| Rating | 4.8 / 5 | 4.9 / 5 |
Open WebUI features
- Works with Ollama and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint
- Built-in RAG over uploaded documents and web pages
- Multi-user accounts with roles and permissions
- Model switching, prompt presets, and chat folders
- Fully offline once models are pulled locally
Ollama features
- One-command model download and run (e.g. `ollama run llama3.3`)
- Built-in OpenAI-compatible REST API for local apps
- Runs open models — Llama, DeepSeek, Qwen, Gemma, Mistral — on CPU or GPU
- GPU acceleration on NVIDIA, AMD, and Apple Silicon
- Custom models and prompts via Modelfiles, plus a large model library