AnythingLLM vs Open WebUI

Short answer

AnythingLLM: All-in-one private chat with your documents, agents and an embeddable widget. Open WebUI: Feature-rich self-hosted chat UI for Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs. They sit in different categories (Knowledge base & RAG and Private ChatGPT-style chat) but overlap: All of them give a team a ChatGPT-style chat interface where users can upload files and ask questions about them.

Choose AnythingLLM if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Custom / conditional).

Choose Open WebUI if you want: larger community (156k vs 67.4k GitHub stars).

Open WebUI publishes no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.

Last updated Oct 22, 2026 · computed from each project's official docs and live GitHub data · sources

AnythingLLM vs Open WebUI side by side

	AnythingLLM	Open WebUI
Category	Knowledge base & RAG	Private ChatGPT-style chat
What it is	All-in-one private chat with your documents, agents and an embeddable widget.	Feature-rich self-hosted chat UI for Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs.
License	MIT	Open WebUI License (BSD-3-Clause style with branding clause)
License type	Permissive	Custom / conditional
License conditions	Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the copyright notice.	BSD-style terms plus a branding condition. You may not alter or remove the "Open WebUI" branding unless your deployment has no more than 50 end users in any rolling 30 days, you have written permission, or you hold an enterprise license.
Status	Active	Active
GitHub stars	67.4k	156k
Last commit	Oct 22, 2026	Oct 16, 2026
Latest release	v1.18.0	v0.12.3
Minimum hardware	2 vCPU · 2 GB RAM · 5 GB disk	Not published
Recommended hardware	Not published	Not published
RAM measured by us	Not tested yet	896 MiB idle, 909 MiB working (our test, v0.12.3, Oct 22, 2026)
GPU	Not required / not stated	Not required / not stated
Est. server cost	from €19.99/mo	from €11.99/mo (based on our test, not official)
Deploy method	Docker	Docker
Known gotchas	2 listed	2 listed
Telemetry	On by default	Off by default (opt-in)
Calls home by default	No (documented)	Yes, by default
SSO (OIDC / SAML / LDAP)	Not documented	Free (OIDC free · LDAP free)
Audit log	Not documented	Yes, free
RBAC	Not documented	Yes, free
Details	Full AnythingLLM guide →	Full Open WebUI guide →

Key differences

Category: AnythingLLM: Knowledge base & RAG. Open WebUI: Private ChatGPT-style chat.
License: AnythingLLM: MIT (Permissive). Open WebUI: Open WebUI License (BSD-3-Clause style with branding clause) (Custom / conditional).
Official hardware: AnythingLLM: minimum 2 vCPU · 2 GB RAM · 5 GB disk. Open WebUI: not published.
Est. server cost: AnythingLLM: from €19.99/mo. Open WebUI: not estimated (no official RAM figure).
GitHub stars: AnythingLLM: 67.4k. Open WebUI: 156k.
Last commit: AnythingLLM: Oct 22, 2026. Open WebUI: Oct 16, 2026.
Latest release: AnythingLLM: v1.18.0 (Oct 13, 2026). Open WebUI: v0.12.3 (Oct 16, 2026).

Same for both: GPU: not required or not stated; Deploy: Docker · single container; Status: Active.

AnythingLLM vs Open WebUI: FAQ

AnythingLLM or Open WebUI: which should a small business choose?

Choose AnythingLLM if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Custom / conditional). Choose Open WebUI if you want: larger community (156k vs 67.4k GitHub stars). Open WebUI publishes no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.

Which is cheaper to self-host, AnythingLLM or Open WebUI?

AnythingLLM: from €19.99/mo. Open WebUI: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Our estimate is the cheapest Hetzner Cloud plan that meets each project's official RAM and vCPU figure; it covers the server only.

How much hardware do AnythingLLM and Open WebUI need?

AnythingLLM: minimum 2 vCPU · 2 GB RAM · 5 GB disk. Open WebUI: not published.

What is the license difference between AnythingLLM and Open WebUI?

AnythingLLM: MIT (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the copyright notice. Open WebUI: Open WebUI License (BSD-3-Clause style with branding clause) (Custom / conditional). BSD-style terms plus a branding condition. You may not alter or remove the "Open WebUI" branding unless your deployment has no more than 50 end users in any rolling 30 days, you have written permission, or you hold an enterprise license. This is a summary, not legal advice.

Is AnythingLLM or Open WebUI more actively maintained?

AnythingLLM: Active, last commit Oct 22, 2026. Open WebUI: Active, last commit Oct 16, 2026. GitHub data refreshed Oct 22, 2026.

Which is easier to deploy, AnythingLLM or Open WebUI?

AnythingLLM installs via Docker (single container); Open WebUI via Docker (single container). AnythingLLM lists 2 known gotchas and Open WebUI lists 2; see each app page.

Sources

AnythingLLM GitHub repository: github.com/Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm
AnythingLLM documentation, AnythingLLM hardware requirements: docs.anythingllm.com/installation-docker/system-requirements
AnythingLLM license: github.com/Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm/blob/master/LICENSE
AnythingLLM deploy instructions: github.com/Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm/blob/master/docker/HOW_TO_USE_DOCKER.md
Open WebUI GitHub repository: github.com/open-webui/open-webui
Open WebUI documentation, Open WebUI hardware requirements: docs.openwebui.com/getting-started/quick-start/
Open WebUI license: github.com/open-webui/open-webui/blob/main/LICENSE
Open WebUI deploy instructions: github.com/open-webui/open-webui#installation-with-default-configuration
Hetzner Cloud pricing used for cost estimates (read 2026-10-22): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
GitHub REST API (stars, commits, releases): docs.github.com/en/rest

Every value is generated from the same verified data as the app pages. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.