your ad here · $149/weekyour ad here · $149/weekyour ad here · $149/weekyour ad here · $149/weekyour ad here · $149/weekyour ad here · $149/weekyour ad here · $149/weekyour ad here · $149/weekyour ad here · $149/weekyour ad here · $149/weekyour ad here · $149/weekyour ad here · $149/week

AI chat

Free ChatGPT alternatives

ChatGPT (OpenAI's AI assistant for chat, code and research) is a commercial product. These 4 tools do the same job and are free to use or to self-host.
Short answer: the best free alternatives to ChatGPT are Open WebUI, LibreChat, Jan and Ollama. Self-hosting is free; you pay only for the server (a small VPS is about $4–6/mo). Licenses and prices checked 2026-10-01.
  1. 1
    Open WebUI

    Self-hosted AI chat interface for Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs

    Self-hosted chat UI for Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs.

    Source-available (Open WebUI License (BSD-3 + branding)) ·details

  2. 2
    LibreChat

    Open-source ChatGPT-style UI for many AI providers

    ChatGPT-style web UI for many AI providers, self-hosted.

    Open source (MIT) ·details

  3. 3
    Jan

    Open-source desktop app to run LLMs locally

    Desktop app that runs open models on your own computer.

    Open source (Apache-2.0) ·details

  4. 4
    Ollama

    Run open language models locally

    Run open models locally from the command line or an API.

    Open source (MIT) ·details

Want paid options too? See all ChatGPT alternatives or the full free alternatives list.

FAQ

Is there a free alternative to ChatGPT?+

Yes. Open WebUI, LibreChat, Jan and Ollama do the same job for free; LibreChat, Jan and Ollama are open source.

What is the best open-source alternative to ChatGPT?+

LibreChat, Jan and Ollama are open source. LibreChat: ChatGPT-style web UI for many AI providers, self-hosted.

Are these ChatGPT alternatives open source?+

LibreChat, Jan and Ollama are under OSI-approved licenses. Open WebUI (Open WebUI License (BSD-3 + branding)) is source-available: free to self-host, with limits in the license.

Open source: OSI-approved license. Free to self-host: the code is public and free to run yourself, with limits in the license.