Alternatives / Poe
Looking for an open source Poe alternative? We compared 9 open source AI chat interfaces and desktop clients by license, model support, local models, self-hosting, and privacy. They let you chat with many models in one place using your own API keys or local models, and several use licenses that are not standard open source.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| Open WebUI | Self-hosted chat for local and cloud models (custom license) | Open WebUI License; older code BSD-3-Clause / MIT |
| LobeChat | Teams of AI agents (source available) | LobeHub Community License |
| AnythingLLM | Chat with your documents | MIT |
| Cherry Studio | Desktop client for 300+ models (AGPL-3.0 Community Edition) | AGPL-3.0 Community Edition |
| LibreChat | Multi-user team deployments | MIT |
| Jan | Running models locally on your desktop | Apache-2.0 |
| 5ire | Desktop assistant with MCP (source available) | Modified Apache-2.0 (source available) |
| Fullmoon | Private offline LLMs on Apple devices | MIT |
| Zola | Simple multi-model chat app (small project) | Apache-2.0 |
We looked for open-source tools that overlap with Poe's core: one interface to chat with many AI models. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and self-hosting in its repository. Poe is a hosted service that provides access to models for a subscription, so these tools instead connect to your own API keys or local models, and we flag source-available licenses and projects with slow development. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Unlike Poe, none of these include model access. You connect your own API keys from providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google, or run local models, and you pay those providers directly. Local inference needs reasonably powerful hardware.
Open WebUI uses its own Open WebUI License, a BSD-3-Clause-based license with a branding requirement. LobeChat uses the LobeHub Community License, and 5ire uses a modified Apache-2.0 license, both source available. Cherry Studio's Community Edition is AGPL-3.0, with a separate commercial license for other uses.
Open WebUI and LibreChat are the closest as web chat interfaces that support many providers, with accounts and multi-user access. Cherry Studio and 5ire are desktop clients that connect to many providers, and Jan and Fullmoon focus on running models locally.
AnythingLLM, LibreChat, and Fullmoon are MIT. Jan and Zola are Apache-2.0, Cherry Studio is AGPL-3.0 for its Community Edition, and the others use the custom licenses described above.
Open WebUI, LobeChat, AnythingLLM, Cherry Studio, LibreChat, and Jan were updated within days of this update. Zola's last commit was in December 2025, and Fullmoon's in May 2025, so their development has slowed.
Poe is a proprietary hosted service: your conversations pass through its servers, access to models is limited by its subscription and compute points, and it decides which bots and models are available. Open-source alternatives let you use your own API keys or local models, keep chats on your machine or server, and avoid subscription caps, at the cost of paying providers directly or running models yourself.
| Alternative | Type | License | Self-hosted | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open WebUI | Web chat platform | Open WebUI License (BSD-based) | Yes | Local and cloud models |
| LobeChat | Agent platform | LobeHub Community License | Yes | Agent teams |
| AnythingLLM | Desktop and server app | MIT | Yes | Documents and RAG |
| Cherry Studio | Desktop client | AGPL-3.0 (Community) | Local app | Many providers |
| LibreChat | Web chat platform | MIT | Yes | Teams |
| Jan | Desktop app | Apache-2.0 | Local app | Local models |
| 5ire | Desktop assistant | Modified Apache-2.0 | Local app | MCP tools |
| Fullmoon | iOS and macOS app | MIT | On-device | Offline Apple devices |
| Zola | Web chat app | Apache-2.0 | Yes | Simple multi-model chat |
Want a self-hosted chat for local and cloud models
Open WebUI connects local and cloud models with extensibility, under a custom license that includes a branding requirement.
Want a multi-user chat for a team under MIT
LibreChat supports many providers, custom agents, file uploads, and multi-user access, and it is MIT-licensed.
Want to chat with your own documents
AnythingLLM is MIT-licensed and runs as a desktop or self-hosted app with document chat, local models, and agents.
Want to run models locally on a desktop
Jan runs open models locally or connects to cloud providers, under Apache-2.0.
Want a desktop client for many providers
Cherry Studio connects 300+ models from 50+ providers with a local knowledge base, under AGPL-3.0 for its Community Edition.
Want private offline LLMs on Apple devices
Fullmoon runs local models on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, but development has slowed since 2025.