Alternatives / T3.chat
Looking for an open source T3.chat alternative? We compared 7 open source AI chat apps and platforms by license, model support, local models, self-hosting, and privacy. They let you chat with many models using your own API keys or local models, from self-hosted web apps to desktop and mobile clients.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| Open WebUI | Self-hosted hub for local and cloud models (custom license) | Open WebUI License; older code BSD-3-Clause / MIT |
| LibreChat | Closest self-hosted multi-provider web chat under MIT | MIT |
| LobeChat | Teams of AI agents (source available) | LobeHub Community License |
| AnythingLLM | Chat with your documents | MIT |
| Cherry Studio | Desktop client for many providers (AGPL-3.0 Community Edition) | AGPL-3.0 Community Edition |
| Jan | Local models on your desktop | Apache-2.0 |
| Fullmoon | Offline LLMs on Apple devices (development slowed) | MIT |
We looked for open-source tools that overlap with T3.chat's core: a fast chat interface for many AI models in one place. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and platforms in its repository. T3.chat is a hosted web app with a subscription, so we separate self-hosted web chats from desktop and mobile clients, and flag source-available licenses and slower projects. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Unlike T3.chat, none of these includes model access in a subscription. 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.
LibreChat and Open WebUI are the closest: web chat interfaces you host yourself, with multi-provider support, accounts, and file uploads, which you can open in a browser from any device. LibreChat is MIT-licensed, while Open WebUI uses a custom license. For desktop use, Cherry Studio and Jan are the most popular clients.
Open WebUI uses its own Open WebUI License, a BSD-3-Clause-based license with a branding requirement. LobeChat uses the LobeHub Community License, which is source available. Cherry Studio's Community Edition is AGPL-3.0, with a separate commercial license for other uses.
LibreChat, AnythingLLM, and Fullmoon are MIT. Jan is Apache-2.0, Cherry Studio is AGPL-3.0 for its Community Edition, and Open WebUI and LobeChat use the custom licenses described above.
Open WebUI, LobeChat, AnythingLLM, Cherry Studio, LibreChat, and Jan were updated within days of this update. Fullmoon's last commit was in May 2025 and it only runs on Apple devices, so its development has stalled.
T3.chat is a proprietary hosted service: you pay a monthly subscription for access to models, your chats are stored on its servers, and the available models and usage limits are set by its operator. Open-source alternatives let you use your own API keys or local models, keep chat history on your own machine or server, and avoid a subscription, at the cost of paying providers directly and setting things up yourself.
Open WebUI provides a unified interface for Ollama, OpenAI-compatible APIs, Anthropic, and other providers, with document RAG, web search, tools, multimodal input, user management, and extensions. Current code uses the Open WebUI License with branding restrictions.
Pricing: Free to self-host; current license includes branding restrictions beyond traditional permissive licenses.
LobeChat, now LobeHub, is a platform for building and running teams of AI agents on long-running tasks and automated workflows. It includes multi-agent coordination, a large skill library, memory, pages, projects, schedules, and messaging gateways. It is licensed under the LobeHub Community License, based on Apache-2.0 with additional commercial conditions.
Pricing: Self-hostable; hosted cloud services may be offered separately.
AnythingLLM is an MIT-licensed local-first and self-hostable AI workspace with local or cloud models, document ingestion, vector search, agents, multi-user workspaces, and a developer API.
Pricing: Free and open source under MIT with desktop and self-hosted deployments.
Cherry Studio is an AGPL-3.0 Community Edition desktop AI assistant for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It combines model selection, chat, knowledge bases, agents, MCP servers, documents, model comparison, and local conversation storage.
Pricing: Free and open source Community Edition; external model API costs may apply.
LibreChat is an MIT-licensed self-hostable chat interface supporting Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Azure, local models, custom agents, files, tools, web search, code execution, model comparison, and multi-user access.
Pricing: Free and open source under MIT; API provider and infrastructure costs may apply.
Jan is an Apache-2.0 desktop AI assistant designed to run models such as Llama, Qwen, Mistral, and DeepSeek locally while also supporting cloud providers.
Pricing: Free and open source under Apache-2.0; cloud model API costs may apply.
Fullmoon is an MIT-licensed local AI assistant that runs compatible language models entirely on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro using Apple's hardware acceleration.
Pricing: Free and open source under MIT; compatible local models run on supported Apple hardware.
| Alternative | Type | License | Platforms | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open WebUI | Web chat platform | Open WebUI License (BSD-based) | Self-hosted web | Local and cloud models |
| LibreChat | Web chat platform | MIT | Self-hosted web | Multi-user chat |
| LobeChat | Agent platform | LobeHub Community License | Self-hosted web | Agent teams |
| AnythingLLM | Desktop and server app | MIT | Desktop or self-hosted | Documents and RAG |
| Cherry Studio | Desktop client | AGPL-3.0 (Community) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Many providers |
| Jan | Desktop app | Apache-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux | Local models |
| Fullmoon | iOS and macOS app | MIT | Apple devices | Offline Apple devices |
Want a self-hosted web chat for many providers under MIT
LibreChat supports many providers, custom agents, file uploads, and multi-user access, and it is MIT-licensed.
Want a self-hosted hub for local and cloud models
Open WebUI connects local and cloud models in one interface, under a custom license with a branding requirement.
Want a desktop client for many providers
Cherry Studio connects 300+ models from 50+ providers with local data storage, under AGPL-3.0 for its Community Edition.
Want to run models locally on your computer
Jan runs open models locally or connects to cloud providers, under Apache-2.0.
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 private offline LLMs on Apple devices
Fullmoon runs small local models on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, but development has stalled since 2025.