Locally Uncensored vs Open WebUI

Choosing between local AI frontends? Open WebUI and Locally Uncensored are both open source-licensed, open-source tools for running AI locally. But they solve different problems.

Open WebUI is the most popular Ollama frontend with 129K+ GitHub stars. It's battle-tested, feature-rich, and has a massive community. Locally Uncensored is newer but takes a different approach: instead of being the best chat UI, it combines chat, image generation, and video creation in one app.

Both need an engine underneath. LU Labs compares the two usual candidates in its Ollama vs LM Studio comparison.

This comparison helps you decide which one fits your needs.

Feature Comparison

Where Locally Uncensored Wins

• Image + Video Generation — The biggest differentiator. Open WebUI doesn't generate images or video. Locally Uncensored wraps ComfyUI and supports Stable Diffusion XL, FLUX, Wan 2.1, and AnimateDiff.
• No Docker — Clone, run setup script, done. No Docker Compose files, no container management.
• Answers directly, abliterated models available: pick a model with the refusal behaviour removed from the weights, or a mainstream one, in the same picker. Nothing sits between you and the model on your own machine
• Simpler setup — One command installs everything including Ollama and a recommended model.
• Coding Agent — Built-in coding agent that can read your codebase, write files, and run commands. Open WebUI has no coding agent.
• 13 MCP Tools — Web search, file operations, shell access, screenshots, and more — all built in. No plugins or pipelines needed.
• File Upload with Vision — Drag and drop images into chat; vision models describe them automatically.
• Thinking Mode — Collapsible reasoning blocks that work with all providers, letting you see the model's chain of thought.
• Granular Permissions — 7 permission categories with 3 access levels for fine-grained control over tool access.
• Multi-Provider Support — Use Ollama, OpenAI, and Anthropic simultaneously in one interface.
• Model Load/Unload — Manage VRAM directly from the UI by loading and unloading models on demand.

Where Open WebUI Wins

• Massive community — 129K stars means more contributors, faster bug fixes, and better documentation.
• RAG / Document Chat — Upload PDFs, web pages, and documents. Locally Uncensored doesn't have this yet.
• Multi-user support — Share one instance with your team or household with role-based access.
• Plugin ecosystem — Pipelines, tools, and functions extend Open WebUI's capabilities.
• Cloud model support — Connect to OpenAI, Anthropic, etc. alongside local models (though Locally Uncensored v2.2.2 now supports multi-provider too).