Open WebUI

Open WebUI is a single Docker container (or pip/uv install) that gives Ollama or any OpenAI-compatible API a ChatGPT-style multi-user interface: conversation history, document RAG (PDF/DOCX/TXT/MD, chunked and embedded into a local vector store), web search integration, multimodal input, and role-based access control for teams. Its most distinctive feature is the Pipelines/Functions framework — Pipes, Filters and Actions let you inject arbitrary Python into the chat flow (custom routing, guardrails, logging, tool calls) without forking the app. It's the only self-hosted LLM UI with this combination of polish, true multi-user RBAC, and a plugin system, which is why independent write-ups consistently rank it above alternatives like LibreChat or AnythingLLM for team use.

149,347 GitHub stars, 21,779 forks, 379 open issues, and a push to main as recently as today — this is one of the most active open-source AI projects on GitHub (github.com/open-webui/open-webui, checked 2026-08-20). The official Docker image has been pulled 464,369 times (hub.docker.com/v2/repositories/openwebui/open-webui, checked 2026-08-20). Latest release is v0.11.0, published 2026-07-27, matching the PyPI package version.

Timeline, verified against the project's own docs and current LICENSE file: the project started under MIT, moved to plain BSD-3-Clause in January 2025 (github.com/open-webui/open-webui/discussions/8467), then in v0.6.6 (April 2025) added a mandatory branding clause plus a Contributor License Agreement for new contributions (docs.openwebui.com/license/). All code through v0.6.5 stays BSD-3 — nothing was retroactively relicensed. The current clause (raw LICENSE file on GitHub) prohibits altering or removing 'Open WebUI' branding in any deployment, with three exceptions: deployments with 50 or fewer end users in a rolling 30-day window, written permission from the maintainers, or a paid enterprise license. Everything else about the code — using, modifying, self-hosting, even reselling access — remains unrestricted. This change drew real pushback; a November 2025 report describes community discussion of forking from the last BSD-licensed commit, citing Valkey and OpenSearch as precedent, though no maintained fork has emerged as of this writing (biggo.com/news/202511041923_open-webui-license-change-backlash).

There is no public price. The Enterprise page (docs.openwebui.com/enterprise/) lists what it unlocks — white-labeling/rebranding rights, multi-node high-availability deployment, LDAP/Active Directory/SSO integration, and access to add-on features like Terminals — but every path ends at 'Contact Enterprise Sales' and licenses are stated to be available only to registered entities/organizations. The community version stays free indefinitely for any deployment that keeps Open WebUI's branding, or for internal use under 50 users regardless of branding.

Open WebUI has an unusually large number of published GitHub Security Advisories for a project this size — 147 distinct advisory IDs found via the OSV database (api.osv.dev, queried 2026-08-20), covering issues from SSRF and path traversal to a remote-code-execution report via the audio transcription upload endpoint and account-takeover via OAuth token exchange. Nearly all list a fixed version (255 fix entries across the advisories), and the project's security policy states it accepts reports only via GitHub Security Advisories, offers no bug bounty, and asks for 'several weeks' to triage given 'the very high volume of incoming vulnerability reports' (github.com/open-webui/open-webui/security/policy). A large batch of advisories was published in the past three weeks (2026-08-02 and 2026-08-10), several tagged '[AI-ASSISTED]', suggesting automated/AI-driven security research rather than a single incident. The volume reflects both real attack surface (file uploads, admin APIs, OAuth, multi-tenant data) and active, responsive patching — but it means self-hosters must track releases and update promptly rather than treating a deployed instance as fire-and-forget.

Founded by Timothy Jaeryang Baek, originally shipped as 'Ollama WebUI' in October 2023 and renamed Open WebUI in January 2024. Open WebUI, Inc. was incorporated after the project was selected for the 2024 GitHub Accelerator and the inaugural 2024 Mozilla Builders Accelerator cohort, raising a reported $40,000 combined through those two programs (siliconangle.com/2024/09/23/mozilla-kicks-off-builders-accelerator-program-local-ai-startups, news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40459770). No VC funding is disclosed; the company's own team page describes 'a small core team' and does not list funding sources (docs.openwebui.com/team/). Revenue comes from enterprise licensing, GitHub Sponsors, and site advertising rather than investment.