LobeHub vs Open WebUI
Two of the top chat uis, side by side: score, setup, license, activity and what each review found.
LobeHub
Agent workspace with builder, groups, scheduling and 10,000+ MCP skills
Open WebUI
Self-hosted chat UI for Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs with RBAC and RAG
| What we compare | LobeHub | Open WebUI |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 86, widely used | 97, widely used |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 83, healthy | 97, healthy |
| Easy to run | 67, easy | 50, easy |
| Agent-ready | 45, minimal | 0, none |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 83.1k | 154.3k |
| License | custom license (read the license) | custom license (read the license) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Last release | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Language | Not stated | Not stated |
| Docker | Yes | Yes |
| GPU | Not needed | Optional |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Not stated | Not stated |
LobeHub
LobeHub is a self-hostable agent workspace that runs on Vercel, Zeabur, Sealos, Alibaba Cloud or Docker Compose. It centres on an Agent Builder, Agent Groups that work a task in parallel, Pages for co-writing, scheduled runs, projects and shared workspaces, plus structured editable memory and an IM gateway, with 10,000+ tools and MCP-compatible plugins. An OpenAI API key is required to start.
Who it is for: Teams wanting a multi-agent workspace with an app-like UI
Strengths
- One-click deploy buttons for Vercel, Zeabur, Sealos, RepoCloud and Alibaba Cloud
- 10,000+ tools and MCP-compatible plugins for agents
- Agent Groups, scheduled runs, projects and team workspaces
- Memory is structured and editable rather than a hidden store
Weaknesses
- OPENAI_API_KEY is a required environment variable
- Docker setup runs a curl-piped script from lobe.li before docker compose up
- README recommends a third-party API reseller through an affiliate link
- README states no ports, databases or hardware requirements
- no GPU
- Docker + Compose
- Models: OpenAI, OpenAI-compatible proxy
Open WebUI
Open WebUI is a Python-served web interface (pip or Docker, port 8080) for Ollama and any OpenAI-compatible API such as LM Studio, vLLM, OpenRouter or Groq. It bundles RAG over 9 vector databases with hybrid BM25 search, web search through 20+ providers, image generation via ComfyUI, AUTOMATIC1111, DALL-E or Gemini, MCP and OpenAPI tool servers, and per-user roles with LDAP, OAuth and SCIM provisioning.
Who it is for: Teams and homelabs wanting a multi-user front end for local models
Strengths
- Images tagged :ollama and :cuda bundle Ollama or CUDA acceleration in one container
- RBAC, user groups, LDAP/AD, OAuth SSO and SCIM 2.0 provisioning built in
- 9 vector databases incl. ChromaDB, PGVector, Qdrant, Milvus and Elasticsearch
- Redis-backed sessions and WebSockets for multi-worker, multi-node deployments
Weaknesses
- Custom Open WebUI License requires keeping the Open WebUI branding visible
- Enterprise plan pitched at the top of the README; Terminals isolation is enterprise-only
- pip install is pinned to Python 3.11
- Data is lost unless the /app/backend/data volume is mounted
- GPU optional
- Docker + Compose
- Models: Ollama, OpenAI-compatible APIs, LM Studio, vLLM, OpenRouter
- port 8080