GILD verdict
Pick Open WebUI when chats must stay in your infrastructure and staff reach any model from one interface.
You host and upgrade it. ChatGPT is the better choice when a vendor-run assistant on OpenAI's models is worth a per-seat price. For 200 users at the workload above, Open WebUI's tokens come to about US$1,232 a month plus servers, against US$4,000 for Business Standard seats billed annually.
GILD found no named team that has published moving between Open WebUI and ChatGPT or running both. Open WebUI is an assistant you host, and ChatGPT is an assistant you rent by the seat. Open WebUI runs on your servers in front of any model on your own keys at no license cost while the branding stays. ChatGPT Business and Enterprise run OpenAI's models in OpenAI's cloud, with SSO on Business and SCIM, the Compliance API, and data residency on Enterprise.
Choosing between Open WebUI and ChatGPT
Choose Open WebUI if
- Chats and documents must stay in your own infrastructure, including air-gapped networks.
- Staff should reach local models and several model makers from one interface.
- A team can host, patch, and upgrade the app and its database.
Choose ChatGPT if
- Nobody should run an assistant, and a per-seat price is easier to budget than servers and tokens.
- OpenAI's models and apps, including connectors and record mode, cover the work.
- Security needs a vendor-run service with SCIM and the Compliance API on Enterprise.
Side by side
| Dimension | Open WebUI | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| What you payList prices in US dollars. | Free to use as-is under the Open WebUI License, BSD-3 with a branding clause; enterprise licenses for white-labeling and support quoted from the expected end-user count; you pay for your servers and each model maker's tokens14 | Business Standard US$20 a seat a month billed annually or US$25 monthly, Premium US$100 or US$125, with a two-seat minimum; Enterprise by quote8 |
| Monthly cost for one workload (GILD calculation)GILD calculation on October 28, 2026. Inputs: 200 users, 20 chats per user per workday, 22 workdays, 3,000 input and 800 output tokens per chat, GPT-6.1 Sol at the US$2 and US$10 per million tokens OpenAI's API pricing lists, and Business Standard at US$20 or US$25 a seat. Open WebUI's hosting is not priced. | 200 users sending 20 chats a workday over 22 workdays, 88,000 chats of 3,000 input and 800 output tokens on GPT-6.1 Sol at US$2 and US$10 per million: about US$1,232 a month of tokens billed by OpenAI on your key, with no Open WebUI license fee while the branding stays, plus your servers46 | 200 Business Standard seats: US$4,000 a month billed annually, or US$5,000 billed monthly, before any credits bought past included usage8 |
| Where it runs | Your infrastructure: on-premise, private cloud, hybrid, or air-gapped, on VMs, containers, or Kubernetes with Helm; Redis coordinates more than one replica1 | OpenAI's cloud, through web, desktop, and mobile apps; data residency in ten regions on Enterprise911 |
| Models | Any model: local models through Ollama or llama.cpp beside hosted model APIs on your own keys; an admin sets the default model for new chats with DEFAULT_MODELS35 | OpenAI's models only12 |
| Prompt data | Stays in your infrastructure unless you connect external model APIs; you own the database and set its retention policies2 | Business and Enterprise workspace data is not used for training by default; admin-set retention on Enterprise1113 |
| Sign-in | SSO through OIDC and OAuth 2.0, LDAP and Active Directory, and RBAC, with SCIM 2.0 in the free edition23 | SAML SSO and MFA on Business; SCIM and role-based access on Enterprise1011 |
| Audit | A request audit log that is off by default (AUDIT_LOG_LEVEL=NONE) and, once set, is written to DATA_DIR/audit.log23 | The Compliance API, on Enterprise only, with SCIM and role-based access14 |
| Compliance | No certification of its own: certifications such as SOC 2, HIPAA, or ISO 27001 apply to your deployment, not to the software2 | OpenAI's enterprise privacy commitments cover Business and Enterprise workspaces13 |
| Who runs it | Your team hosts, patches, and upgrades it; one three-replica deployment rolled v0.12.0 back to v0.11.4 after containers grew to 8 to 11 GB of memory17 | OpenAI runs the service; workspace admins manage seats, credits, connectors, and data controls10 |
| Choose it if | Choose Open WebUI if chats must stay on your servers and you want any model in one interface, and a team can host and upgrade it12 | Choose ChatGPT if you would rather pay per seat for a vendor-run assistant on OpenAI's models than host one89 |
What practitioners report, side by side
Each product's figures come from its own practitioners, for the group you pick.
Overall signal
Leaders and teams rate ChatGPT +14, 88 points above Open WebUI at −74. Most of the gap is in complaints, with 28 of Open WebUI's 35 sources negative against 10 of ChatGPT's 38.
The score counts the authors from leaders and teams that take a side, one vote each with their latest view, and is how far positive votes lead negative ones, per 100 votes, so ChatGPT's +14 rests on votes split 15 positive, 11 mixed and 10 negative. Each of Open WebUI's authors wrote one source here, so each source is one vote.
A lead of a fifth of the votes reads positive and a lead of half strong positive, with the same lines below zero. The dots show each source, positive, mixed, negative. Run a pilot on your team's recurring tasks to measure how often answers are used without rework.
Footprint on the AI Knowledge Work stack
They differ on three of 7 layers. Coverage is each product's placement on this stack, as its product page shows it. Core is a job the product owns; Supports and Touches are jobs it helps with. Coverage says nothing about how well a product does them.
| Layer | Open WebUI | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| Create | ||
| Documents | Touches | Supports |
| Meeting notes | Touches | Supports |
| Analyze | ||
| Data analysis | Touches | Supports |
The 4 layers where they match
| Layer | Open WebUI | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| Assist | ||
| AI assistant | Core | Core |
| Find | ||
| Web research | Supports | Supports |
| Enterprise search | Supports | Supports |
| Automate | ||
| Automation | Supports | Supports |
What practitioners praise
Among leaders and teams, Search, Tools & MCP reaches 5 sources from 3 authors only for Open WebUI, at 1 of 5. ChatGPT needs a pilot on the same tasks before you choose on it. Custom GPTs, Projects & Memory reaches 5 sources from 3 authors only for ChatGPT, at 3 of 5. Open WebUI needs a pilot on the same tasks before you choose on it.
| Praised for | Open WebUI | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| Search, Tools & MCP | 1 of 5 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Custom GPTs, Projects & Memory | Not a theme in its sources | 3 of 5 |
Each count is the sources that praise a theme, or raise it as a concern, out of those that discuss it. A row pairs the two products when both carry a theme under the same or an equivalent name.
A count ending in "so far" has under 5 sources from 3 authors among leaders and teams. "Not a theme in its sources" means GILD found no theme of that name in that product's sources.
What practitioners raise as concerns
Among leaders and teams, Open WebUI alone has four concern themes that reach 5 sources from 3 authors. Feature Gaps and Upgrade Regressions lead, at 14 of 14 and 8 of 8. ChatGPT alone has three concern themes that reach 5 sources from 3 authors. Workspace Administration and Usage Limits & Cost lead, at 7 of 10 and 6 of 9.
| Raised as a concern | Open WebUI | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| Feature Gaps | 14 of 14 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Upgrade Regressions | 8 of 8 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Performance at Scale | 7 of 7 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Setup & Operations | 7 of 8 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Workspace Administration | Not a theme in its sources | 7 of 10 |
| Usage Limits & Cost | Not a theme in its sources | 6 of 9 |
| Data Privacy & Retention | Not a theme in its sources | 3 of 8 |
14 sources
- Open WebUI docs: Enterprise
- Open WebUI docs: Enterprise security
- Open WebUI docs: Environment variable configuration
- Open WebUI docs: License
- Open WebUI docs: Ollama
- OpenAI API docs: Pricing, GPT-6.1 Sol at US$2 input and US$10 output per million tokens (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- open-webui/open-webui issue #32267: v0.12.0 multi-instance containers grow to 8-11 GB, v0.11.4 stable (Oct 12, 2026)
- ChatGPT pricing
- ChatGPT Business
- OpenAI Help Center: ChatGPT Business overview
- OpenAI Help Center: What is ChatGPT Enterprise?
- OpenAI Help Center: GPT-6 and other models in ChatGPT
- OpenAI: Enterprise privacy at OpenAI
- ChatGPT admin docs: Compliance API