{
    "title": "Open WebUI Alternatives 2027: 9 Paid, Free & Open-Source",
    "url": "https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/open-webui/",
    "summary": "The best Open WebUI alternatives in 2027 are ChatGPT (best overall), LobeHub (best free plan: 500,000 credits a month) and LibreChat (best open source, MIT). Open WebUI itself starts at $0. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on 11 Nov 2026; 6 more are compared below, including 1 with a free plan and 4 open source.",
    "tool": {
        "name": "Open WebUI",
        "starting_price": "$0",
        "free_plan": "Self-hosted; no plan limits stated",
        "price_checked": "2026-11-11",
        "pricing_url": "https://openwebui.com"
    },
    "task": "AI chat interface",
    "prices_checked": "2026-11-11",
    "date_modified": "2026-11-11",
    "alternatives": [
        {
            "name": "ChatGPT",
            "type": "Free",
            "starting_price": "Free plan; paid price not published",
            "free_plan_limit": "Unlimited text chats, subject to abuse guardrails",
            "best_for": "Hosted assistant, no setup",
            "difference": "ChatGPT is a hosted service with plans billed by OpenAI and no server to run; Open WebUI runs on your own machine and talks to models you choose.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-11",
            "pricing_url": "https://chatgpt.com/pricing",
            "website": "https://chatgpt.com",
            "zekai_score": 9.3,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/chatgpt/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Chatbox",
            "type": "Free plan + paid",
            "starting_price": "$3.99/mo",
            "free_plan_limit": "10,000 compute points a day, 5 AI images",
            "licence": "GPL-3.0",
            "best_for": "Desktop and mobile client for your own keys",
            "difference": "Chatbox ships native Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android apps plus a web version, and sells optional Chatbox AI credits from $3.99 a month; Open WebUI is browser-only.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-11",
            "pricing_url": "https://chatboxai.app/en/pricing",
            "website": "https://chatboxai.app",
            "repository": "https://github.com/chatboxai/chatbox",
            "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/chatbox/",
            "zekai_score": 7.2,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/chatbox/"
        },
        {
            "name": "LobeHub",
            "type": "Free plan + paid",
            "starting_price": "$18/mo billed yearly",
            "free_plan_limit": "500,000 credits a month, 15 MB storage",
            "licence": "Apache-2.0",
            "best_for": "Hosted agent workspace with free credits",
            "difference": "LobeHub Cloud measures usage in credits and gives Free accounts 500,000 a month, with Plus at $18 a month billed yearly; its Apache-2.0 repo can also be self-hosted.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-11",
            "pricing_url": "https://lobehub.com/pricing",
            "website": "https://lobehub.com",
            "repository": "https://github.com/lobehub/lobe-chat",
            "zekai_score": 7,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/lobehub/"
        },
        {
            "name": "LibreChat",
            "type": "Open source",
            "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)",
            "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)",
            "licence": "MIT",
            "best_for": "MIT-licensed multi-provider chat platform",
            "difference": "LibreChat is MIT-licensed, while Open WebUI's current code sits under a licence that requires keeping its branding; LibreChat adds SSO through OAuth, SAML and LDAP.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-11",
            "pricing_url": "https://www.librechat.ai/",
            "website": "https://www.librechat.ai",
            "repository": "https://github.com/LibreChat-AI/LibreChat",
            "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/librechat/",
            "zekai_score": 7.7,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/librechat/"
        },
        {
            "name": "big-AGI",
            "type": "Open source",
            "starting_price": "$9/mo (hosted)",
            "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)",
            "licence": "MIT",
            "best_for": "Multi-model comparison workspace for experts",
            "difference": "big-AGI sends one prompt to several models and fuses the answers, and charges $9 a month only for cloud sync and backup; the app itself is free with your own keys.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-11",
            "pricing_url": "https://big-agi.com/",
            "website": "https://big-agi.com",
            "repository": "https://github.com/enricoros/big-AGI",
            "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/big-agi/",
            "zekai_score": 7.5,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/big-agi/"
        },
        {
            "name": "AnythingLLM",
            "type": "Open source",
            "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)",
            "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)",
            "licence": "MIT",
            "best_for": "Document chat with local models and agents",
            "difference": "AnythingLLM runs as a single desktop download with its own local model engine, and its repo says multi-user mode, themes and the embed widget are Docker-only.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-11",
            "pricing_url": "https://anythingllm.com/",
            "website": "https://anythingllm.com",
            "repository": "https://github.com/Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm",
            "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/anythingllm/",
            "zekai_score": 8.6,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/anythingllm/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Jan",
            "type": "Open source",
            "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)",
            "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)",
            "licence": "Apache-2.0",
            "best_for": "Offline desktop chat with local models",
            "difference": "Jan is an Apache-2.0 desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux that runs models offline and exposes a local API on port 1337, with no browser server to host.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-11",
            "pricing_url": "https://github.com/janhq/jan",
            "website": "https://github.com/janhq/jan",
            "repository": "https://github.com/janhq/jan",
            "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/jan/",
            "zekai_score": 8.2,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/jan/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Ollama",
            "type": "Open source",
            "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)",
            "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)",
            "licence": "MIT",
            "best_for": "Model runner Open WebUI connects to",
            "difference": "Ollama is the model runner Open WebUI usually connects to; it starts chats from the command line with ollama run and serves a REST API on port 11434.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-11",
            "pricing_url": "https://github.com/ollama/ollama",
            "website": "https://ollama.com",
            "repository": "https://github.com/ollama/ollama",
            "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/ollama/",
            "zekai_score": 9.1,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/ollama/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Poe",
            "type": "Paid",
            "starting_price": "Not checked",
            "free_plan_limit": "No free plan",
            "best_for": "Hosted app giving many models and community bots",
            "difference": "Poe is a hosted app on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and web that offers models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and Mistral plus community bots; nothing is installed on a server.",
            "price_checked": "2026-11-11",
            "pricing_url": "https://poe.com/about",
            "website": "https://poe.com",
            "zekai_score": 8.6,
            "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/poe/"
        }
    ],
    "faq": [
        {
            "q": "What is the best alternative to Open WebUI in 2027?",
            "a": "ChatGPT is the best overall Open WebUI alternative on this page (Free plan; paid price not published). For no cost, LobeHub has a free plan (500,000 credits a month, 15 MB storage). To self-host, LibreChat is open source (MIT)."
        },
        {
            "q": "Is there a free version of Open WebUI?",
            "a": "Yes. Open WebUI has a free plan: Self-hosted; no plan limits stated. Paid plans start at $0, checked on 11 Nov 2026."
        },
        {
            "q": "Is there a 100% free alternative to Open WebUI?",
            "a": "Yes. LibreChat, big-AGI, AnythingLLM, Jan, Ollama are open source and free to self-host. ChatGPT, Chatbox, LobeHub have a free plan with limits, shown in the table."
        },
        {
            "q": "What is cheaper than Open WebUI?",
            "a": "Chatbox starts at $3.99/mo, against $0 for Open WebUI, as listed on each vendor's pricing page on 11 Nov 2026."
        },
        {
            "q": "How much do Open WebUI alternatives cost for a team of 5?",
            "a": "If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, at the prices Zekai checked on 11 Nov 2026, the monthly cost is Chatbox $19.95/mo, big-AGI $45/mo, LobeHub $90/mo. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. The Zekai Cost Finder on this page recalculates for any team size."
        },
        {
            "q": "Which is better, ChatGPT or Open WebUI?",
            "a": "ChatGPT is a hosted service with plans billed by OpenAI and no server to run; Open WebUI runs on your own machine and talks to models you choose. Choose ChatGPT if you want a hosted assistant with nothing to install, maintain or secure yourself. Stay with Open WebUI if you need your chats and documents to stay on infrastructure you control."
        },
        {
            "q": "Why are people leaving Open WebUI?",
            "a": "The documented reasons are: The repository README says current code is under the Open WebUI License, which requires preserving the Open WebUI branding, with earlier contributions under their original licences (11 Nov 2026); Enterprise capabilities such as SSO, RBAC, audit logs, data residency and air-gapped deployment are sold through the vendor's sales team rather than listed with a price (11 Nov 2026). Each is sourced in the section above."
        },
        {
            "q": "What is better than Open WebUI?",
            "a": "It depends on the job. LibreChat is the nearest self-hosted peer, AnythingLLM is simpler for documents on one desktop, and ChatGPT or LobeHub suit people who prefer a hosted service."
        }
    ],
    "publisher": "Zekai (zekaiwork.com) — independently reviewed; prices read on vendor pages on the dates shown.",
    "licence": "Free to quote with a link to https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/open-webui/. Bulk copying or republishing the dataset is not permitted."
}