Compare / Open WebUI vs LibreChat
Open WebUI vs LibreChat
Pick Open WebUI if you want the published ChatGPT Team stack and the Railway template with LiteLLM. Pick LibreChat if you want agents, MCP, and multi-user auth in that product shape.
Facts checked 17 Oct 2026. License, language, and GitHub activity come from the catalog or the project's own repo. "Not in the catalog row" means the public catalog dump does not store that number.
Open WebUI in the catalog LibreChat in the catalog
How they compare
| Open WebUI | LibreChat | |
|---|---|---|
| License | Other (catalog; open-webui/open-webui) source | MIT License (catalog) source |
| Language | Python (catalog) | TypeScript (catalog) |
| GitHub activity | 155,599 stars in the catalog source | 45,852 stars in the catalog source |
| Self-host | Published with LiteLLM + Postgres. Railway template. | Multi-provider UI with agents, MCP, and multi-user auth. |
| Best for | One UI over many models you bring keys for. | A second ChatGPT clone if Open WebUI is not the shape. |
Self-hosting and resource needs
Open WebUI is /stacks/open-webui-litellm with a one-click Railway template (Postgres + LiteLLM). LibreChat is MIT TypeScript (LibreChat-AI/LibreChat). You still pay tokens to whoever you route. Anything LLM remains the document-chat path — /compare/open-webui-vs-anything-llm.
FAQ
- Do I still pay OpenAI?
- Yes. Both UIs route to providers you bring keys for. LiteLLM is the proxy on the Open WebUI stack; it is not free inference.
- Open WebUI or Anything LLM?
- See /compare/open-webui-vs-anything-llm if the job is document chat rather than a ChatGPT clone.
- Are these free?
- LibreChat is MIT. Open WebUI is the catalog OSS UI. Hosting and model APIs are extra.
- How do I deploy Open WebUI?
- Use Deploy on Railway on /stacks/open-webui-litellm. Provider keys are BYO and optional.
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