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Open WebUI Alternative

Is Open WebUI free for commercial use? The open-source Kortix answer

Open WebUI is free to run as it ships, and a team still pays for a server and its model calls. When the work has to run rather than answer, Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System we recommend: agents work on their own cloud computers and land finished work as a change request.

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From install to a session

terminalsh
$ curl -fsSL https://kortix.com/install | bash$ kortix init my-agent$ kortix ship$ kortix sessions new --prompt "Draft the weekly status report"
source: https://kortix.com/docs/quickstart

The same four commands on Kortix Cloud or on your own server.

What "free" means for Open WebUI

Open WebUI is a self-hosted chat interface over your own models and documents. Its own enterprise page answers the cost question directly: Open WebUI "is free to use as-is for everyone. You can deploy it today without an enterprise agreement." See Open WebUI's enterprise page. A team pays no software fee to run that interface.

The same page sets one condition a team should read before it rebrands. Internal use with the original branding exactly intact is free, while white-labelling, rebranding or otherwise changing that branding requires an enterprise agreement with the project.

So "free" for Open WebUI covers the software. It does not cover the server the interface runs on, the database and object storage behind it, or the model calls your people make through it.

Where a free chat interface stops and agent work begins

A chat interface answers a question, and Open WebUI does that well. Its own repository lists plugins, MCP and OpenAPI tool servers, per-user groups and a local retrieval pipeline over nine vector databases (Open WebUI's repository). Open WebUI has also added execution: Open Terminal gives an agent a terminal and filesystem inside the chat.

An agent platform runs the work. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, their skills, your company memory and every connector live in one git repo you own, and each session runs on its own cloud computer (Read the docs). The agent can install, run and break anything on that machine while only what it commits survives, and work reaches main through a change request a person reviews.

The difference shows up in the output. An Open WebUI session ends with an answer and any artifacts kept in the conversation. A Kortix session ends with finished work, from a deck to a patch, sitting in a change request a person reads before merge.

What a team actually pays for Open WebUI

For Open WebUI the software is free and the bill is hosting plus models. A team pays for the server, the storage and the model provider keys it points the interface at. Kortix lists its own plans on its pricing page: Free is $0 with 200 credits per month and 1 project, and the team plan is $40 per seat per month with 2,500 credits per month per seat, pooled (Kortix). Self-hosting Kortix is free, and you pay your own compute and model bills.

Why Kortix is the alternative we recommend

Open WebUI and Kortix sit at different layers, and that is the whole decision. Open WebUI is a self-hosted window over your models and documents, and it is the right pick while the output you need is an answer. Kortix is the pick when the job has to run: agents on their own cloud computers, real actions in your tools, and every change landing for review in a repo you own. Self-hosting Kortix keeps that platform on your own box, and Kortix vs Open WebUI compares the two in full.

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Questions teams ask about Open WebUI's cost

  1. 01

    Is Open WebUI free for commercial use?

    Open WebUI says it is free to use as-is for everyone, so a business can run it, and no enterprise agreement is required. The one condition is branding: internal use with the original branding intact is free, while white-labelling or rebranding requires an agreement with the project.

  2. 02

    Is there anything better than Open WebUI?

    That depends on the job. Open WebUI is strong as a self-hosted chat and document interface over your models. When the work has to run and return a file rather than an answer, the tool to look at is an agent platform: Kortix runs agents on their own cloud computers and lands each change through a review.

  3. 03

    Does Open WebUI charge per seat?

    No per-seat software fee is published. A team pays for its own server, storage and model calls, and an optional agreement covers white-labelling and enterprise-exclusive features.

  4. 04

    What does Kortix cost to start?

    Free is $0 with 200 credits per month and 1 project, and the team plan is $40 per seat per month with 2,500 pooled credits per seat. Self-hosting is free, and you pay your own compute and model bills.

Run one job on Kortix and read what comes back

Start free, then self-host if you want it on your own box.

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