# Open WebUI for enterprise: an open-source route to governed AI work

> Open WebUI ships OAuth single sign-on, group-based RBAC and an opt-in audit log for self-hosted deployments. It does not give a company a governed place for agents to work. Kortix, the open-source AI Operating System, adds per-resource permissions for people and agents, SAML 2.0 SSO, SCIM 2.0 and a change-request gate before anything reaches main.

URL: https://openwebuialternative.com/open-web-ui-for-enterprise

## Enterprise controls, side by side

Kortix and Open WebUI are both open source and self-hosted, so the deciding question is what each one lets a company govern.

| | Kortix (recommended) | Open WebUI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Open source | Yes. Read it, fork it, audit it. | Yes, with a public source repository. |
| Identity | SAML 2.0 single sign-on and SCIM 2.0. | OAuth 2.0 SSO, LDAP, and SCIM 2.0 provisioning. |
| Access control | Per-resource permissions for people and agents. Roles, groups, and an audit trail. | Admin, User and Pending roles; groups; per-resource model and knowledge access. |
| Audit | Every action is recorded; log access depends on the plan. | Request audit log off by default; writes to DATA_DIR/audit.log when enabled. |
| Where configuration lives | Files in a git repo you own. | Instance settings and environment variables on your server; not versioned. |
| Hosting and self-host | Kortix Cloud, your VPC, or your own on-prem network. Self-host is free. | Self-hosted on your own servers or cloud tenancy; you operate it. |
| Model governance | Any model provider with your own keys. | Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint; admin and group permissions gate which models members reach. |
| Path to production | Session work reaches main through a change request. | An administrator manages settings from one place; changes apply to the instance. |

## What Open WebUI documents for enterprise deployments

Open WebUI is an open-source, self-hosted chat front end. It puts one or more model endpoints behind a browser UI a whole team can share, and the organization that deploys it runs and secures it. Its own documentation makes an enterprise case built on three things: identity integration, role-based access control, and audit-ready logging.

Identity comes first. The [authentication and access docs](https://docs.openwebui.com/features/authentication-access/) describe single sign-on through OAuth 2.0 providers such as Google, Microsoft Entra, Okta and Keycloak, authentication against LDAP or Active Directory, optional two-factor sign-in, and SCIM 2.0 for automated account provisioning and deprovisioning from an identity provider. Authorization is additive by design: an account starts with the permissions of its role, which is Admin, User or Pending, and every group membership only ever adds capabilities. Models, knowledge bases, tools and skills each carry their own access control and stay private until the creator grants access to named accounts, groups or everyone.

Whole-instance access is documented in the [sharing guide](https://docs.openwebui.com/getting-started/sharing/), which walks through network exposure, a pending-approval queue for new accounts, group creation and per-model grants, and a team-access check that asks an administrator to sign in as a regular account instead of trusting their own view.

Logging rewards a careful reading. The [security page](https://docs.openwebui.com/enterprise/security/) states that the request audit log is off until an administrator enables it, and that because the software is self-hosted, the deploying organization owns the environment, the configuration and the compliance obligations. Certifications apply to a deployment, not to the software.

```
# Open WebUI: the request audit log is off by default
AUDIT_LOG_LEVEL=NONE          # no request audit log is written
ENABLE_AUDIT_STDOUT=true      # when enabled, also stream events to stdout
```

## Where a chat deployment stops and a governed platform starts

Open WebUI is a front end over models. It answers a question, searches the knowledge it was granted, and holds a conversation. For many teams that is the whole job.

It is not the layer where work runs. A chat deployment has no per-session machine where an agent executes a task, no permissions model for the agent itself, and no gate between a proposed change and the system it changes. When an IT or security lead has to put AI in front of a review, those are the questions that decide the outcome: what an agent may touch, what it did, and who approves the result before it lands.

That layer is where Kortix sits. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, their skills, your company memory, and every connector in one git repo you own, with the agents working on real cloud computers.

## What Kortix gives a company that has to govern the work

Access in Kortix covers agents as well as people. Per-resource permissions for people and agents. Roles, groups, and an audit trail. For identity, Kortix supports SAML 2.0 single sign-on and SCIM 2.0. Every action is recorded. Reading, exporting and streaming the audit log depend on the plan.

Isolation is per session. One isolated sandbox per session. Each session has its own isolated machine and branch, so two jobs never share a filesystem or a working tree. [Kortix on GitHub](https://github.com/kortix-ai/suna) holds the source you can read, fork and audit.

Changes do not land themselves. Session work reaches main through a change request. Merge is default-deny for agents, so a person reads the diff first. You set the connector rules: each tool call is Allow, Ask or Block, and an Ask holds the call until a person approves it and the agent resumes.

Where it runs is your call. Run it on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network. Self-host is free, and the [self-hosting page](/self-hosting) covers the setup. Compliance is stated plainly: SOC 2 Type I is held; SOC 2 Type II is in progress. Kortix makes no ISO or HIPAA claim.

## Questions an enterprise rollout asks

### Does Open WebUI support SSO and RBAC out of the box?

No. A new instance starts with local email and password sign-in and two primary roles, Admin and User, plus a Pending role that queues new sign-ups for approval. Single sign-on, LDAP, SCIM 2.0 and group permissions are configured after deployment. The first account created becomes the administrator and switches new sign-ups off.

### Can Kortix run fully on-prem?

Yes. Run it on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network. Self-host is free, and the [self-hosting page](/self-hosting) covers the deployment shape.

### How does access control differ between a chat deployment and a governed AI Operating System?

A chat deployment decides who can see which models and which knowledge. A governed AI Operating System also has to decide what an agent may touch and what it may change: permissions for people and agents, connector rules down to the arguments of a call, approval gates, and a review before a change reaches main. Open WebUI covers the first; Kortix covers both.

### What does an enterprise rollout have to check?

Four questions decide most reviews: where identity lives and how accounts are provisioned; whether the access model covers agents as well as people; whether an audit trail exists and who may read it; and how a change to the running system gets reviewed. The [assessment of Open WebUI's own posture](/is-open-web-ui-safe) and the [team-sharing picture](/open-web-ui-for-teams) cover the adjacent questions.

## Put a governed AI Operating System next to your chat deployment.

Read the source, self-host it, and see the review path for yourself.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com) · [Self-hosting](https://openwebuialternative.com/self-hosting)