Jan vs Open WebUI

Open WebUI runs as a web app on a server; Jan is a desktop app.

JanOpen-source desktop app to run LLMs locally

Open WebUISelf-hosted AI chat interface for Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs

Which to pick

Pick Jan if you want…

Local LLM chat with optional cloud models
Integrations with OpenAI, Mistral AI or DeepSeek (on Jan's list, not Open WebUI's)

Pick Open WebUI if you want…

Self-hosted AI chat UI
A self-hosted web UI for local and remote models
Integrations with Ollama, OpenAI-compatible APIs or Python (on Open WebUI's list, not Jan's)

Side by side

What it is: Jan:Jan is an open-source desktop app that lets you run LLMs locally or connect to cloud providers.; Open WebUI:Open WebUI is a self-hosted web interface to run and manage AI models from Ollama, OpenAI-compatible APIs and more.
Best for: Jan:Local LLM chat with optional cloud models; Open WebUI:Self-hosted AI chat UI
Who it’s for: Jan:Developers and power users who want a private, self-hosted AI chat interface.; Open WebUI:Developers and teams needing on-premise or private AI chat interfaces.
Pricing: Jan:Open source; Open WebUI:Open source
Open source: Jan:Yes, 44,797 GitHub stars; Open WebUI:Yes, 153,947 GitHub stars
Works with: Jan:OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral AI, DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Hugging Face; Open WebUI:Ollama, OpenAI-compatible APIs, Anthropic, Python

Jan features

Run any model locally. Execute open-source LLMs on your machine without external APIs.
Connect to cloud models. Add providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Meta Llama, etc.
Web search integration. Jan can perform real-time web searches before answering.
MCP options. Supports multi-candidate prompting for richer responses.
Open-source & lightweight. Free, community-driven code with a minimalist UI.
Memory (coming soon). Will retain context and preferences across sessions.

Open WebUI features

Model agnostic connectivity. Connect to any Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic or compatible model, locally or in the cloud.
Python extensibility. Write Python plugins and pipelines to add new capabilities to the chat.
Enterprise security. SSO, RBAC, audit logs, data residency and air-gapped deployment for regulated use.
Community library. Browse, install and share community-created prompts, tools, functions and models.
Multimodal toolset. Built-in voice, vision, retrieval, search and execution features ready out of the box.
One-click deployment. Install via pip or Docker in under a minute with no account required.

Jan vs Open WebUI FAQ

Is Jan or Open WebUI free?+

Yes, both are free and open source.

Is Jan or Open WebUI open source?+

Yes, both are open source: Jan (janhq/jan on GitHub) and Open WebUI (open-webui/open-webui on GitHub).

Do Jan and Open WebUI integrate with the same tools?+

Partly. Both list Anthropic. Jan also lists OpenAI, Mistral AI, DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and 1 more; Open WebUI also lists Ollama, OpenAI-compatible APIs and Python.

On DevHunt

Jan

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Jan on DevHunt →Jan alternatives

Open WebUI