Tools
LocalAI vs Open WebUI
LocalAI or Open WebUI? Their plans monthly and yearly, the capabilities their makers state, security and latest updates, side by side — read from the makers' own pages.
In short
- Both: Runs commands, Command line, Choice of models, Self-hosted, API, Builds agents and workflows, Search over your data
- Only LocalAI states: VS Code, Runs models for you
- Only Open WebUI states: Chat about your code, Agent that edits files, Reviews pull requests, Traces and evaluates
LocalAI
LocalAI runs AI models on your own hardware through an OpenAI-compatible local server and web interface.
Plans
Not read from the maker’s page yet.
Prices checked 2026-09-25 on the maker’s page.
Capabilities
- Runs commands — “It runs shell commands behind an approval gate you control, delegates to sub-agents, and loads MCP servers, plugins and skills.” source
- VS Code — “Install on openSUSE and drive it from VS Code” source
- Command line — “Run local-ai chat and you are talking to an agent that already knows where your models are.” source
- Choice of models — “Every tier of every model we quantize, ranked against the hardware you actually have and installed with one click.” source
- Self-hosted — “keep your data on your hardware, and scale to a room full of GPUs when you need more capacity.” source
- API — “One binary with an OpenAI-compatible API in front of it.” source
- Runs models for you — “Point an existing client at it and the calls keep working, except now the model is on your machine.” source
- Builds agents and workflows — “Run local-ai chat and you are talking to an agent that already knows where your models are.” source
- Search over your data — “Agents, MCP, skills, RAG, interactive tools” source
Latest updates
- v4.10.0 (v4.10.0)
Added a fleet operations dashboard, credentials.yaml authentication, and CLI end-to-end latency and throughput benchmarking.
- v4.9.0 (v4.9.0)
Authentication now defaults to deny; chat supports context compression, canonical model/backend pages, and video serving in vllm-cpp.
- v4.8.0 (v4.8.0)
Added the vllm-cpp backend, 3D generation, a multi-family audio.cpp engine, hardware-matched gallery builds, and distributed-mode fixes.
Open WebUI
Self-hosted AI interface for connecting local and cloud models, with chat, tools, retrieval, voice, vision, and extensions.
Plans
Free
Free
- Use the whole thing free, even at work
- No account, no card, no purchase needed
- Self-hostable on your infrastructure
Supporter
- $60 / seat / year
- Get extras and help fund the work
- Free use stays free
Enterprise
Price on request
- Company-wide rollout with controls, terms, and procurement a large org needs
- White-labeling, support agreements, security review, dedicated point of contact
- SSO, RBAC, audit logs, air-gapped deployments
Prices checked 2026-09-25 by web search.
Capabilities
- Chat about your code — “Attach documents, images, and code for the AI to analyze” source
- Agent that edits files — “Point a coding agent at the task, watch it run tools live, and ship the result with a tap.” source
- Runs commands — “Runs real commands and returns output” source
- Reviews pull requests — “Review diffs, stage, and commit beside the agent.” source
- Command line — “pip install open-webui && open-webui serve” source
- Choice of models — “Talk to any model, switch mid-conversation, and keep your context intact.” source
- Self-hosted — “Freedom is self-hosted. Your AI, running on your own ground, wherever you are.” source
- API — “This guide provides essential information on how to interact with the API endpoints effectively to achieve seamless integration and automation using our models.” source
- Builds agents and workflows — “Wrap any model with custom instructions, tools, and knowledge to build specialized agents.” source
- Search over your data — “Upload files, build knowledge bases, and let the AI retrieve exactly the information it needs.” source
- Traces and evaluates — “OpenTelemetry” source
Latest updates
- v0.11.0 (v0.11.0)
Redesigned the interface and added sub-agents.
- v0.10.0 (v0.10.0)
Added folder sharing with users, groups, or everyone, plus automatic context compaction for long chats.