Open WebUI is a self-hosted ChatGPT-like interface for Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs.
What You Get for Free
- ChatGPT-like UI — familiar chat interface
- Multiple models — switch between Ollama models, OpenAI, Claude
- RAG — upload documents, chat with them
- Web search — AI can search the web for current info
- Image generation — DALL-E, Stable Diffusion integration
- Voice — speech-to-text and text-to-speech
- Tools/Functions — extensible with custom Python functions
- Multi-user — authentication, user management
- Model presets — save system prompts and parameters
- Chat history — persistent conversation storage
Quick Start
# Docker (with Ollama)
docker run -d -p 3000:8080 \
--add-host=host.docker.internal:host-gateway \
-v open-webui:/app/backend/data \
ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main
# Access at http://localhost:3000
# Connect Ollama or paste OpenAI API key
Why Self-Hosters Love It
ChatGPT costs $20/mo. Claude costs $20/mo:
- Free with local models — Ollama + Open WebUI = $0/mo
- Private — conversations never leave your server
- Multi-model — use GPT-4 AND local Llama in the same interface
- RAG built in — upload PDFs, ask questions, get cited answers
A company banned ChatGPT for security reasons but developers needed AI assistance. They deployed Open WebUI with Ollama — same experience, all data stays on-premise, IT approved it in one meeting.
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