Open WebUI vs LibreChat vs AnythingLLM (2026): Which Self-Hosted AI Chat Wins?

If you want one answer: Open WebUI wins as the best all-rounder thanks to the largest community and the widest feature set. LibreChat wins for teams that want a polished, ChatGPT-style interface across many providers. AnythingLLM wins when your core need is chatting with your own documents. All three self-host in Docker and run local models, so the choice is about fit, not capability.

That is the whole decision in a paragraph. The rest of this page backs it up with a side-by-side table, the real differences between the three, and clear guidance on which to self-host for your situation.

What are the core differences?

All three are open-source, self-hosted AI chat interfaces you run on your own server. They overlap heavily - Docker deployment, local models through Ollama, and some form of RAG are common to all of them. The differences are in emphasis.

• Open WebUI is the de-facto standard. With around 140,000 GitHub stars, it has the largest community, the most mature codebase, and the broadest feature set of the three. It connects to Ollama and any OpenAI-compatible API, and layers on RAG, web search, image generation, voice and video, Python function calling, enterprise authentication, and granular permissions. It is the Swiss Army knife.
• LibreChat is the team workbench. At roughly 22,000 stars, it is the most ChatGPT-like of the three, built for multiple users and multiple providers at once. It brings team authentication, MCP agents, a RAG API for uploaded files, and a code interpreter into one familiar interface.
• AnythingLLM is the document specialist. With about 54,000 stars, it is a self-hosted AI workspace centered on document RAG. It organises files into workspaces, adds a no-code agent builder, and ships as both a Docker container and a desktop app for people who want private document chat without running a server at all.

Head-to-head comparison

Which has the best RAG?

This is where the three genuinely diverge, so it is worth being precise. All three support retrieval-augmented generation - the ability to ground answers in your own files rather than the model’s training data. But they treat it differently.

AnythingLLM is the most document-centric. Its entire model is built around workspaces: you drop files into a workspace, and every chat in that workspace is grounded in those documents. If your primary goal is a private knowledge base you can ask questions of, this is the tool designed for exactly that job. Our deeper walkthrough of AnythingLLM for private document chat covers the workflow in detail.

Open WebUI offers RAG as part of a much broader toolkit. You get document retrieval plus web search, so answers can pull from both your files and the live web. RAG is a feature here rather than the organising principle, which suits people who want document chat alongside everything else.

LibreChat provides a RAG API for uploaded files, integrated into its multi-provider chat and code interpreter. It is capable and clean, but document management is not the center of gravity the way it is in AnythingLLM.

The rule: if RAG is the whole point, pick AnythingLLM. If RAG is one thing among many, Open WebUI or LibreChat both do it well.

Which is best for teams?

For a shared deployment where several people log in, LibreChat is the natural team workbench. It offers multi-user authentication, the most ChatGPT-like interface of the three (which cuts training time to roughly zero), MCP agents, and easy switching between providers - so one person can use a hosted frontier model while another runs a local one, all in the same UI.

That said, Open WebUI is also a strong team choice. Its enterprise authentication and granular permissions make it well suited to organisations that want fine control over who can do what, on top of its larger feature set. If your team wants both breadth and control, Open WebUI competes hard here.

AnythingLLM supports teams through shared workspaces, but its collaboration model is oriented around documents rather than general-purpose team chat. It is a great fit when the “team” activity is querying a shared knowledge base, less so when people want a broad, ChatGPT-style assistant each.

Which has the widest features?

No contest: Open WebUI has the deepest feature set. Beyond chat and RAG, it includes web search, image generation, voice and video, Python function calling, enterprise auth, and granular permissions - and its ~140,000-star community means new integrations and fixes land quickly. If you want one tool that can grow into almost any use case, this is it.

LibreChat is focused rather than sprawling. Its strength is doing multi-provider, team-ready chat extremely well, with a code interpreter and MCP agents extending it. AnythingLLM deliberately narrows its scope to documents and adds a no-code agent builder on top - depth in one area rather than breadth across many.

What do they have in common?

It is easy to over-index on the differences, so keep the shared ground in view:

• All three self-host in Docker, so deployment and updates follow the same familiar pattern regardless of which you choose.
• All three run local models via Ollama, meaning you can keep everything private on your own hardware. If you go local, our guide to the best local models to run on your own server covers which ones to put behind any of these interfaces.
• All three accept OpenAI-compatible APIs, so you can mix local models with hosted providers and change your mind later without switching chat tools.

Because the plumbing is shared, you are not locked into a dead end. Start with the one that fits today; the model layer underneath stays portable. For a wider survey of the field, see our roundup of the best open source AI chatbots in 2026.

Which should you self-host?

Match the tool to your primary job:

• Choose Open WebUI if you want the broadest features and the biggest community - the safest default for most people, and the one most likely to cover a use case you have not thought of yet. If you go this route, our guide to self-hosting Open WebUI on a VPS walks through the setup.
• Choose LibreChat if you want a polished, ChatGPT-style interface for a team, with easy switching across many providers and shared login.
• Choose AnythingLLM if your core need is chatting with your own documents, and you want workspace-based RAG plus a no-code agent builder - or even a desktop app instead of a server.

There is no wrong answer here, only a wrong fit. Open WebUI over-serves a pure document use case; AnythingLLM under-serves someone who wants voice, image generation, and web search. Pick for the job you actually have.

Verdict

Open WebUI is the best all-rounder, LibreChat is the best team workbench, and AnythingLLM is the best document chat. They share Docker deployment, Ollama local models, and OpenAI-compatible APIs, so the decision is about emphasis rather than raw capability. Most people who want a general assistant should start with Open WebUI; teams that live in a ChatGPT-style UI should look at LibreChat; anyone whose main task is querying their own files should reach for AnythingLLM.

Whichever you pick, the setup is the same kind of work: a VPS, Docker, a reverse proxy, SSL, and ongoing maintenance so it stays running. That is what we do. We install your self-hosted AI chat on a private server - Open WebUI, LibreChat, or AnythingLLM - configured and working the same day, with an optional maintenance plan to keep it healthy. Not sure which fits? A free consultation will tell you within one business day.