# KoboldCpp vs Open WebUI

> KoboldCpp scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against Open WebUI's 51.8 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Open WebUI leads on security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do local inference. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes…

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-open-webui
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-open-webui.md (~2,750 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-open-webui.min.md (~830 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-open-webui.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

KoboldCpp scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against Open WebUI's 51.8 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Open WebUI leads on security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do local inference.

- KoboldCpp: grade C, 60.5/100, rank #462 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/koboldcpp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/koboldcpp.json
- Open WebUI: grade D, 51.8/100, rank #664 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/open-webui.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/open-webui.json

## Which one, for what

### KoboldCpp (C)

Good for: An owner who wants text, image, speech and music models behind one executable with a writing and roleplay interface, and clients that speak the KoboldAI, OpenAI, Ollama or Anthropic formats.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 68 against 60
- Agent ergonomics, 63 against 54
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 20

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Free to start without a card
- Open source
- No incidents deducted, where Open WebUI loses 8 points for them

Watch for: With no `--host` the server accepts connections on all routable interfaces, and no password is set by default

### Open WebUI (D)

Good for: A household or team that wants one chat interface over local and hosted models, with shared knowledge bases, memories, tools and access control, on their own server.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 63 against 38
- Maintenance & community, 91 against 82
- Transparency & trust, 71 against 49

Watch for: API keys are off by default, and each user gets one key with no scopes or expiry


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | KoboldCpp | Open WebUI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 68 | 68 | even |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 60 | KoboldCpp +8 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 63 | 54 | KoboldCpp +9 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 38 | 63 | Open WebUI +25 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 20 | KoboldCpp +40 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 91 | Open WebUI +9 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 49 | 71 | Open WebUI +22 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -8 | |
| **Total** | | **60.5 · C** | **51.8 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | KoboldCpp | Open WebUI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | Model platform |
| Vendor | LostRuins (Concedo) | Open WebUI Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 for KoboldCpp and KoboldAI Lite. The bundled GGML, llama.cpp and stable-diffusion.cpp code stays under MIT | Open WebUI License. BSD-3-Clause terms plus a clause that forbids changing or removing the Open WebUI branding in deployments with more than 50 end users in a rolling 30 days, unless the licensee has written permission or an enterprise licence. Code from before set commits stays under MIT or BSD-3-Clause (LICENSE_HISTORY), and contributors sign a CLA |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-27 | 2026-09-21 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-07-07 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2025-12-31 |
| Customer content may train models |  | yes, with an opt-out |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | yes |
| Popularity | 12k stars | 153k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**KoboldCpp.** One file runs text, image, speech and music models behind a published OpenAPI 3.0.3 document, with eight releases in 90 days. The server listens on every interface with no password by default, and `--password` leaves the image routes open.

**Open WebUI.** Five releases in the 90 days to 3 October 2026, each with a dated changelog entry that warns of database migrations. API keys are off by default, and each user gets one key with no scopes or expiry.

## Before you call either

### KoboldCpp

1. Start with `--host 127.0.0.1` and `--password`. The default listens on every interface with no key
2. Send the password as `Authorization: Bearer <password>`. It is not read from the query string
3. Treat 503 as both busy and rate limited. The server never sends 429 or `Retry-After`, and the wait in seconds is in `detail.msg`
4. Pass `max_length` or `max_tokens`. The default is 2,048 tokens unless `--defaultgenamt` changes it
5. Send a `genkey` with each generation so `/api/extra/generate/check` and `/api/extra/abort` act on your request and not another caller's

### Open WebUI

1. Ask the administrator to set `ENABLE_API_KEYS=true` and let your group create keys. `sk-` keys are refused until then
2. Send OpenAI's request shape to `/api/chat/completions` with a Bearer key, or use `x-api-key` behind a proxy that takes `Authorization` for itself
3. Call `/api/models` first and use an `id` from it. Model IDs depend on the instance's connections
4. Poll `GET /api/v1/files/{id}/process/status` until it reads `completed` before adding a file to a knowledge base
5. Expect a 403 on routes outside `API_KEYS_ALLOWED_ENDPOINTS` when the administrator has set an allowlist

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, KoboldCpp or Open WebUI?

KoboldCpp scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against Open WebUI's 51.8 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Open WebUI leads on security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

### Can an agent call KoboldCpp and Open WebUI without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for KoboldCpp. No hosted endpoint is listed for Open WebUI.

### Are KoboldCpp and Open WebUI open source?

KoboldCpp is open source (AGPL-3.0 for KoboldCpp and KoboldAI Lite. The bundled GGML, llama.cpp and stable-diffusion.cpp code stays under MIT). No open-source release is listed for Open WebUI.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-open-webui.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-open-webui.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "koboldcpp", "b": "open-webui"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare koboldcpp open-webui`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/koboldcpp.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/open-webui.json

## Other comparisons with KoboldCpp or Open WebUI

- [AnythingLLM vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-open-webui.md)
- [Docker Model Runner vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [Docker Model Runner vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-open-webui.md)
- [Foundry Local vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [Foundry Local vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-open-webui.md)
- [Core vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [Core vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-open-webui.md)
- [GPT4All vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [GPT4All vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-open-webui.md)
- [Jan vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [Jan vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-open-webui.md)
- [Khoj vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [Khoj vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-open-webui.md)
- [KoboldCpp vs Lemonade](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-lemonade.md)
- [KoboldCpp vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-llama-cpp.md)
- [KoboldCpp vs LM Studio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-lm-studio.md)
- [KoboldCpp vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-localai.md)
- [KoboldCpp vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-mlx-lm.md)
- [KoboldCpp vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-ollama.md)
- [KoboldCpp vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-screenpipe.md)
- [KoboldCpp vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
- [Lemonade vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-open-webui.md)
- [llama.cpp vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-open-webui.md)
- [LM Studio vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-open-webui.md)
- [LocalAI vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-open-webui.md)
- [MLX LM vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-open-webui.md)
- [Ollama vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-open-webui.md)
- [Open WebUI vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/open-webui-vs-screenpipe.md)
- [Open WebUI vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/open-webui-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
- [KoboldCpp vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-underdog.md)

## Disclosure

- Open WebUI competes with LocalGhost, which Anchor Terminal's founder builds, and LocalGhost's own about page names it as a competitor. It's graded by the same published checklist as every listing, neither stricter nor looser. Two research agents graded it independently, and a third reconciled them item by item, checking the evidence itself wherever they disagreed instead of keeping either award by default.