Open WebUI vs PrivateGPT: which one to choose in 2026?
Both are open source alternatives to ChatGPT Plus. We compare license, tech stack and features to help you decide which fits your team best.
| Open WebUI | PrivateGPT | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Artificial Intelligence | Artificial Intelligence |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| GitHub stars | 62k | 55k |
| Tech stack | Python, Svelte, SQLite | Python, LlamaIndex |
| Replaces | ChatGPT Plus | ChatGPT Plus |
Open WebUI has more GitHub stars, which usually indicates a larger community (not necessarily that it's the best option for your use case).
Open WebUI
Self-hosted chat interface for LLMs, an alternative to ChatGPT Plus.
Pros
- Runs 100% local models, no data sent to third parties
Things to consider
- Quality depends on the model you choose to run (GPU recommended)
PrivateGPT
Ask your documents with 100% private LLMs, an alternative to ChatGPT+docs.
Pros
- Ideal for sensitive data that can't leave your network
Things to consider
- Performance depends on the local hardware available
Key features
Open WebUI
- Compatible with Ollama and any OpenAI-style API
- RAG with your own documents
- User and role management
- Marketplace of community prompts and functions
PrivateGPT
- Q&A over your PDFs and documents
- 100% offline, no external API calls
- Own REST API to integrate it