open-webui

What it is and what it does

Open WebUI is a full-featured, self-hosted web application for conversing with language models. It acts as a unified interface to local models via Ollama and remote APIs including OpenAI-compatible endpoints, Azure, and Anthropic, letting you run AI conversations entirely offline or connect to multiple providers. The platform includes built-in retrieval-augmented generation with support for 9 vector databases, web search integration, document upload and parsing, image generation and editing, voice and video calls, and persistent memory across conversations.

It is designed as a server application you deploy and run yourself rather than a library to import. The 98 runtime dependencies reflect its scope: web serving via FastAPI, database support including SQLite and PostgreSQL, cloud storage via boto3 and Azure, authentication via authlib, and AI integrations via anthropic and others. It targets Python 3.11 and 3.12, with a custom proprietary license that restricts branding modifications unless you stay under 50 concurrent users or obtain explicit permission.

Use it for:

• Deploy a private AI chat platform for a team without sending data to third-party APIs
• Build a RAG system that ingests documents and lets users query them conversationally
• Create a multi-model evaluation environment comparing responses from different LLMs
• Set up an AI scheduling system with calendar integration and recurring prompt execution
• Integrate multiple AI providers into a single unified chat interface
• Run an offline-first AI assistant with progressive web app support for mobile access

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Open WebUI is a self-hosted AI platform providing a web interface for interacting with local and remote language models, with built-in RAG, multi-model conversations, and plugin extensibility.

Yes, if you need a self-hosted, feature-complete AI chat platform with RAG and multi-model support. Low install friction, active maintenance, and zero known vulnerabilities are strong signals. However, the custom proprietary license with strict branding restrictions is a material constraint: if you plan to heavily customize or deploy at scale, you will need to negotiate an enterprise license. For private deployments under 50 users or pure self-hosted use, it is a solid choice.

Install

open-webui on PyPI

pip install open-webui

uv add open-webui

poetry add open-webui

Installing open-webui

Before you install

Low install friction with a pure Python wheel distribution. Active maintenance with a recent release 18 days old. Requires Python 3.11 or 3.12 (capped below 3.13), and brings in 98 runtime dependencies covering web frameworks, cloud integrations, ML acceleration, and database support.

License in practice

Licensed under a custom proprietary license with significant branding restrictions: you cannot remove or alter Open WebUI branding except for deployments under 50 end users in a 30-day period, or with explicit written permission or an enterprise license. This limits customized deployments without licensing negotiation.

Quickstart

pip install open-webui
python -m open_webui.main

Requires Python 3.11 or 3.12; does not support Python 3.13. Intended as a server application, not a library.

Verify before relying

• Whether the 98 runtime dependencies include optional/conditional installs or are all required for core functionality
• Specific resource requirements (RAM, disk, CPU) for typical deployments
• Whether offline operation requires pre-downloaded models or additional setup beyond pip install
• Default port and access URL for the web interface after startup

Package facts

Evidence: open_webui-0.11.0-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

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Further reading