NextChat vs Open WebUI
NextChat and Open WebUI are both AI assistants software. NextChat is open source under MIT, with 89k GitHub stars. Open WebUI is open source under a license set out in its repository, with 158k GitHub stars.
Which to pick
- Pick NextChat when
- You want a fast personal chat front end you can deploy to Vercel or run as a desktop app.
- Pick Open WebUI when
- You run local or private models and want a full-featured chat front end for yourself or a team.
Side by side
A lightweight AI chat client for web and desktop that works with your own API keys for OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek and others, or through its paid account service.
A self-hosted web interface for chatting with local models through Ollama or any OpenAI-compatible API, with RAG, tools, user management and pipelines.
The project now steers users toward its own paid service, and team features are limited.
Its custom licence restricts removing Open WebUI branding for larger deployments, and it is still pre-1.0.
Usable
Production-ready
Self-hosted server, desktop app and cloud service
Self-hosted server
TypeScript, Next.js, React and Tauri
Python, Svelte and SvelteKit
Open source, MIT (permissive)
Open source, license unclear on GitHub
You can build it into a product you sell, as long as you keep its copyright notice.
GitHub could not read the license. Check it in the repository before reusing any code.
89k GitHub stars
158k GitHub stars
Established: started 3 years ago, latest release v2.16.1.
Established: started 3 years ago, latest release v0.12.5.
Other comparisons
More AI assistants
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from each project's README and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.