5 Best NextChat Alternatives in 2026 (Open Source)
NextChat — ✨ Light and Fast AI Assistant. Support: Web | iOS | MacOS | Android | Linux | Windows.
Short answer
- Closest match to NextChat: LobeHub.
- Most actively developed: LobeHub (2,429 commits in the last 90 days).
- Fastest growing: Open WebUI (+3,942 GitHub stars in the last 30 days).
These 5 open-source tools do the same job. They are ordered by how closely they match NextChat, with live GitHub data so you can see which projects are actively maintained.
| Tool | GitHub stars | Stars / 30d | Last commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| NextChat(original) | 88.8k | +196 | 2026-08-11 |
| LobeHub | 83.0k | +1,358 | 2026-10-02 |
| Open WebUI | 153.8k | +3,942 | 2026-09-21 |
| LibreChat | 45.2k | +1,618 | 2026-10-01 |
| Cherry Studio | 52.3k | +1,569 | 2026-10-02 |
| AnythingLLM | 66.7k | +1,554 | 2026-10-01 |
1. LobeHub
Open-source platform for building, scheduling, and managing collaborative AI agent teams
What sets it apart: Unlike ChatGPT (closed) or Open WebUI (simple chat wrapper), Lobe Chat is an open-source agent collaboration platform with Agent Groups, white-box personal memory, a 10,000+ MCP plugin marketplace, and multi-modal support — positioning it as a full human-agent co-evolution workspace.
Best for: Teams wanting a modern ChatGPT alternative with agent collaboration, memory, and 10,000+ plugins; Developers seeking a self-hostable, extensible chat framework with MCP marketplace support
2. Open WebUI
User-friendly AI Interface (Supports Ollama, OpenAI API, ...)
What sets it apart: Unlike LM Studio (desktop-only, personal use), Open WebUI is a full multi-user platform with RAG, RBAC, SCIM provisioning, 9 vector DBs, and Google Drive/OneDrive integration — the most feature-complete self-hosted ChatGPT alternative
Best for: Teams wanting a self-hosted ChatGPT alternative with full data control and Ollama integration; Organizations needing enterprise-grade AI platform with LDAP/SCIM/SSO and multiple vector DB backends
3. LibreChat
Open-source ChatGPT-like interface for multiple AI models, agents, and sandboxed code execution
What sets it apart: Most feature-complete self-hosted ChatGPT alternative — uniquely combines agents, MCP, code interpreter, image gen, and multi-user auth in one package, unlike single-provider UIs
Best for: Organizations wanting a private, self-hosted ChatGPT replacement; Teams needing multi-user AI platform with access control and audit
4. Cherry Studio
AI productivity studio with smart chat, autonomous agents, and 300+ assistants. Unified access to frontier LLMs
What sets it apart: Unlike Lobe Chat (web-first) or AnythingLLM (RAG-focused), Cherry Studio is a polished Electron desktop client purpose-built for multi-provider LLM access with 300+ pre-built assistants and MCP support, requiring zero environment setup.
Best for: Power users who want a single desktop app to access multiple LLM providers without switching between web UIs; Users who need side-by-side multi-model comparison for prompt testing; Non-technical users wanting a ready-to-use ChatGPT-like desktop experience with no environment setup
5. AnythingLLM
The all-in-one AI productivity accelerator. On device and privacy first with no annoying setup or configuration.
What sets it apart: Unlike Open WebUI (chat-only) or RAGFlow (enterprise RAG focus), AnythingLLM is the most complete all-in-one desktop AI app combining RAG, no-code agent builder, MCP compatibility, multi-user support, and embeddable widgets — requiring zero coding to set up a private AI workspace.
Best for: Non-technical users who want a private, all-in-one ChatGPT replacement with document chat and agents; Small teams needing a self-hosted multi-user AI workspace with RAG and agent capabilities
FAQ
- What are the best alternatives to NextChat?
- The closest open-source alternatives to NextChat are LobeHub, Open WebUI and LibreChat, followed by Cherry Studio and AnythingLLM. They are ranked by how closely they match what NextChat does.
- Which NextChat alternative is the most popular?
- Open WebUI has the most GitHub stars among NextChat alternatives, with 153,800 stars.
- Which NextChat alternative is the most actively maintained?
- By recent activity, LobeHub (2,429 commits in the last 90 days) is the most actively developed alternative.