Text Generation WebUI, the oobabooga desktop app
Local model desktop app with character modes and extensions. Open source, and it states zero telemetry.
Last verified Uncensored AI
What is Text Generation WebUI?
Text Generation WebUI, known almost universally as oobabooga after its maintainer, is a desktop application for running language models locally. It has been one of the standard answers to that problem for years and shows it in the feature list: character modes, a notebook mode for free-form writing, conversation branching, file attachments, vision input and an extension system covering speech and translation.
At a glance
| Category | Uncensored AI |
|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free |
| Starting price | Free |
| Free tier | YesThe entire application, including every extension and backend. No paid tier, no trial, no account and no card. |
| Free trial | No |
| Card required at signup | No |
| Account required | No |
| Payment methods | Card |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Generation modes | Text chat, Character chat, Text generation, Text to speech |
| Content filtering | No documented output filter |
| Age policy | None stated |
| Position on minors | Not applicableRuns on your hardware and receives no user content. |
| Data retention | The project describes itself as 100 percent offline and private with zero telemetry. Models run on your own machine, conversations are files in your own filesystem, and no account exists, so there is no vendor record to retain and nothing to request the deletion of. A stated absence of telemetry is stronger than the silence most local tools offer, because it is a claim that can be checked against the source.source |
| Trains on your content | No |
| Deletion on request | Self-serve in account settings |
| Anonymous use | Supported |
| Company | Text Generation WebUI project, maintained by oobabooga, Not applicable, open-source project |
| Last verified | by ClickTugger |
Product identity
| Official name | Text Generation WebUI | Verified |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | Text Generation WebUI project, maintained by oobabooga | Documented |
| Jurisdiction | Not applicable, open-source project | Documented |
| Website | github.com/oobabooga/text-generation-webui | Verified |
| Also known as | oobabooga, TextGen, oobabooga/text-generation-webui | Verified |
Who it is for
People who want the full set of controls and are willing to learn them. It exposes more than the friendlier local apps here and rewards that with modes they do not have, particularly notebook mode for writing that is not shaped like a conversation, and branching for exploring different continuations of the same scene.
Who it is not for
Anyone who wants to open an app and start typing. Even with a portable build this is the most involved of the local options here, and the interface assumes you know what a backend and a sampler are. Anyone wanting a companion product with memory across devices should look at a hosted service.
Pricing
Nothing. It is free and open source under AGPL-3.0, with no paid edition, no subscription and no account. Portable builds mean there is not even a dependency cost: download, double-click, and everything needed is included.
The whole application is free with nothing held back. Models are downloaded separately and the widely used open-weight ones cost nothing. What you supply is hardware and the patience to pick a model.
| Tier | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free |
No paid edition exists. |
Refunds: Nothing is sold, so no refund terms exist.
Signup friction
There is nothing to sign up for. No account, no email and no card at any point, which together with local execution makes it genuinely anonymous.
- No card at signup
- No account required
- Anonymous use supported
Platforms
Linux, Windows and macOS, with backend options for CUDA, Vulkan, ROCm and CPU only, so it runs on NVIDIA, AMD and machines with no usable GPU at all. Installation is by portable build, one-click installer, manual virtual environment, Conda or Docker.
- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
Feature matrix
Absence of evidence is not recorded as absence of a feature. Anything that needs an account to confirm is marked not tested rather than "no".
| Text chat | Yes | Documented |
|---|---|---|
| Character chat | Yes | Documented |
| Image generation | Not offered | Documented |
| Image to image | Not offered | Documented |
| Video generation | Not offered | Documented |
| Voice | Yes | Documented |
| Web | Not offered | Documented |
| iOS | Not offered | Documented |
| Android | Not offered | Documented |
| Desktop | Yes | Documented |
| API | Not offered | Documented |
| Runs locally | Yes | Documented |
| Long-term memory | Needs an account | Not tested |
| Group chat | Needs an account | Not tested |
| Custom system prompt | Needs an account | Not tested |
| Model selection | Needs an account | Not tested |
Privacy and data
The project states it is 100 percent offline and private with zero telemetry. That last phrase is worth noticing: most local tools leave telemetry unmentioned and let you infer an absence, while this one asserts it, and being open source the assertion is checkable in the source rather than taken on trust. Conversations are files on your machine, there is no account, and nothing is transmitted for inference.
| Retention | The project describes itself as 100 percent offline and private with zero telemetry. Models run on your own machine, conversations are files in your own filesystem, and no account exists, so there is no vendor record to retain and nothing to request the deletion of. A stated absence of telemetry is stronger than the silence most local tools offer, because it is a claim that can be checked against the source.source |
|---|---|
| Trains on your content | No |
| Deletion | Self-serve in account settings |
| Privacy policy | Read the vendor policy |
Privacy disclosure
| Trains on your content | Stated: nosource | Documented |
|---|---|---|
| Account deletion | A control in the account | Documented |
| Deletion control seen working | Needs an account | Not tested |
| Chat export | Needs an account | Not tested |
| Usable without an account | Yes | Documented |
| Payment methods disclosed | Yes | Documented |
What the vendor lets you know before paying
This measures disclosure, not quality. A good product can document nothing, and that is worth knowing separately from whether it is any good.
| Price published | Yes, from $0source | Verified |
|---|---|---|
| Operating company named | Text Generation WebUI project, maintained by oobabooga | Documented |
| Jurisdiction stated | Not applicable, open-source project | Documented |
| Retention period stated | Yes, in the privacy policysource | Documented |
| Training policy stated | Yessource | Documented |
| Refund terms published | Yes | Documented |
| Content policy published | Self-hosted, not applicable | Not documented |
| Position on minors published | Not applicable | Not documented |
Content policy and safety
Text Generation WebUI documents its output filtering asno documented output filter, and its age policy as none stated.
Text Generation WebUI does not offer clothing removal from photographs of real people. ClickTug does not list tools that do. Its stated position on the likeness of real people is that documented consent is required.
What the vendor prohibits
- Nothing is enforced by the application, which ships no model of its own
- What a session refuses is a property of the model file you loaded
General-purpose local software rather than an adult product. It applies no content policy and cannot: behaviour and quality both belong to whichever model you chose to load.
Text Generation WebUI runs on your own hardware, so it receives none of what you generate. ClickTug does not require a minor safety policy or an acceptable use policy from a tool that never receives user content, because there would be nothing for such a policy to govern. Any optional hosted tier is a separate service under its own terms.
ClickTug verdict
The most capable local option here and the least forgiving. Text Generation WebUI runs models on your own machine with character modes, notebook mode for free-form writing, conversation branching, file attachments and an extension system, and the project states it is 100 percent offline and private with zero telemetry. Portable builds mean no dependency wrangling. Against that: the interface assumes real familiarity with backends and samplers, there is no support, and it enforces nothing because it ships no model.
Strengths
- States zero telemetry outright rather than leaving an absence to be inferred
- Notebook mode for free-form writing, which chat-shaped tools cannot do
- Conversation branching, for exploring alternatives without losing the original
- Backends for CUDA, Vulkan, ROCm and CPU only, so AMD and old machines work
- Portable builds: download, double-click, no dependencies to install
- Extensions for text to speech, voice input and translation
Notebook mode and branching, which almost nothing else offers. Chat interfaces force writing into turns, and a notebook does not, which suits long-form prose better than any companion product here. Branching lets you explore several continuations of the same scene without losing the original. Add zero telemetry stated outright, a portable build, and backends for AMD and CPU-only machines.
Limitations
- The most demanding interface of the local tools here
- Applies no content policy, because it ships no model of its own
- Output quality is entirely a property of the model file you loaded
- No support beyond an issue tracker, and no warranty
- General-purpose software rather than a product built for this category
It is the most demanding local option here. The interface exposes sampling parameters, backends and loaders that other apps hide, and getting good results means understanding some of them. There is no support beyond an issue tracker, no content policy of any kind, and output quality is entirely a property of the model you chose.
Hands on
Text Generation WebUI has been one of the standard answers to running a model locally for long enough that most people call it by its maintainer’s name. Ask in any relevant forum and somebody will say oobabooga, and mean this.
The feature list shows the years. Character modes and instruction following, which every local tool has. Then the ones almost nothing else does: notebook mode, where you write and the model continues rather than replying, and conversation branching, where you explore several continuations of the same scene without losing the one you started from. For long-form fiction those two are worth more than any amount of chat polish, because a chat interface forces prose into turns and a notebook does not.
The privacy claim is stated the way this directory prefers. The project says it is 100 percent offline and private with zero telemetry. Most local software leaves telemetry unmentioned, which is probably fine and is not the same as saying so. Asserting it under AGPL-3.0 means the claim is inspectable in the source, which is a stronger position than any hosted vendor on this site can occupy.
Installation used to be the barrier and largely is not now. Portable builds ship every dependency: download, double-click, done. Backends cover CUDA, Vulkan, ROCm and CPU only, so AMD cards and machines with no usable GPU are both supported rather than quietly excluded the way most local AI advice excludes them.
What remains hard is the interface. It exposes loaders, samplers and backend options that friendlier apps hide, and good results depend on understanding some of that. That is a real cost and it is the reason Jan and GPT4All exist. If you want to open something and start typing, this is not it. If you want the controls, nothing else local here has this many.
How Text Generation WebUI compares
Every figure on the right is computed across the 37 tools ClickTug currently tracks, at the moment this page was built. They are facts about this catalogue rather than about the market, and they move as it grows.
| Measure | Text Generation WebUI | Across ClickTug |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Not published | $11.99 median of 17 that publish one |
| Publishes a price | Yes | 26 of 37 tracked |
| Free tier | Yes | 30 of 37 tracked |
| Names its operating company | Yes | 33 of 37 tracked |
| States a training position | Yes | 18 of 37 tracked |
Text Generation WebUI compared with the alternatives
Every cell is read from the same records as each tool's own listing, so nothing here can claim something its page denies. Rows needing an account to confirm are left out entirely rather than guessed at, and live in each listing's feature matrix instead.
| Text Generation WebUI | KoboldCpp | SillyTavern | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | Free | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Card to start | No | No | No |
| Account required | No | No | No |
| Runs on your hardware | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Image generation | No | No | Yes |
| Video generation | No | No | No |
| Voice | Yes | No | Yes |
| API | No | No | No |
| Mobile app | No | Yes | Yes |
| Trains on your content | States no | States no | States no |
| Account deletion | In account | In account | In account |
| Company named | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Position on minors | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Text Generation WebUI vs KoboldCppFree
Choose KoboldCpp instead if you want storywriter and adventure modes in one executable with far less to configure, at the cost of fewer extensions.
Text Generation WebUI vs SillyTavernFree
Choose SillyTavern instead if roleplay tooling matters more than raw control: lorebooks and group chats, with this or another backend behind it.
Quick answers about Text Generation WebUI
Generated from the same records as the tables above, so an answer here cannot contradict a figure there. Questions only appear when the answer says something specific to this product.
- Is Text Generation WebUI free?
- There is a free tier. The entire application, including every extension and backend. No paid tier, no trial, no account and no card.
- How much does Text Generation WebUI cost?
- No price is published. Free and open source under AGPL-3.0. No paid edition, no account, nothing sold. A portable build removes even the installation cost.
- Does Text Generation WebUI require a credit card to start?
- No card is required to reach the free layer. One is needed for any paid plan.
- Does Text Generation WebUI offer refunds?
- Nothing is sold, so no refund terms exist.
- Does Text Generation WebUI have an app?
- No. It runs in a web browser only, which is common for adult products because both app stores restrict them.
- Can Text Generation WebUI run locally?
- Yes. It runs models on your own hardware, so prompts and output never leave the machine and the retention question does not arise.
- Does Text Generation WebUI train on my conversations?
- The vendor states it does not use user content to train models. That is a written commitment, and rarer in this category than it should be.
- Can I delete my Text Generation WebUI account?
- Yes, through a control in the account rather than by asking support.
- Can I use Text Generation WebUI without an account?
- Yes. The service can be reached without registering, which almost nothing else in this directory permits.
- Is Text Generation WebUI actually uncensored?
- ClickTug records no documented output filter, which is a different claim from having no rules: its terms still prohibit a specific list of conduct, set out above.
- What company owns Text Generation WebUI, and where?
- Text Generation WebUI project, maintained by oobabooga, Not applicable, open-source project. Publishing an identifiable counterparty is worth noting: several tools in this directory name no company at all.
Text Generation WebUI FAQ
Is Text Generation WebUI free?
Yes, free and open source under AGPL-3.0. There is no paid edition, no subscription and no account. Portable builds include every dependency, so there is no setup cost either. Models are downloaded separately and the widely used open-weight ones are free as well.
Is oobabooga the same as Text Generation WebUI?
Yes. oobabooga is the maintainer's name and the project is almost always called that in practice, which is why this listing carries both. The repository is oobabooga/text-generation-webui and the application describes itself as a desktop app for local LLMs.
Does Text Generation WebUI collect telemetry?
The project states it is 100 percent offline and private with zero telemetry. That is a stronger claim than most local tools make, which typically say nothing and leave you to infer it, and because the software is open source under AGPL-3.0 the claim can be checked in the source rather than believed.
What is notebook mode?
A free-form writing surface rather than a turn-by-turn chat. You write text and the model continues it, without the exchange being shaped into messages. For long-form prose that is a materially different tool from a chat window, and almost nothing else in this directory offers it.
Does it work without an NVIDIA card?
Yes. It ships backends for CUDA, Vulkan, ROCm and CPU only, so NVIDIA, AMD and machines with no usable GPU are all supported. CPU-only inference is slower rather than impossible, and smaller quantised models make it practical on ordinary hardware.
Is Text Generation WebUI uncensored?
The application applies no filter because it contains no model. What a session refuses depends entirely on the model file you loaded, and that choice is yours. It also means responsibility for what is generated sits with you rather than with a vendor who could be asked to intervene.
How we checked Text Generation WebUI
- Checked
- 10 August 2026
- Documents read
- 1
- Claims checked
- 0
- Documentation gaps
- 2
What we did
- Read every policy document linked from this page, in full
- Loaded the pricing page, and re-loaded it in a rendering browser where it was empty
- Checked the homepage against the pricing and policy pages for disagreement
- Ran the vendor's own homepage through ClickTug's excluded-terms gate
- Searched for reporting, incident-database entries and independent testing
What we have not done
Everything below needs an account, and ClickTug does not hold one here. These are recorded as not tested rather than guessed at, which is why they are absent from the tables above rather than marked "no".
- Signup completed
- Email verification required
- Card required at signup
- First response generated
- Long-term memory
- Voice feature
- Character creation
- Delete-account control
- Chat export
- Cancellation flow
Verified ClickTug observed this directly on the vendor's own pages.Documented The vendor states this in a document we have linked.Not documented We read the document that would carry this and it is absent.Not tested Checking this needs an account. We have not held one, so we have not checked.
Sources for this listing
ClickTug last checked these facts on 10 Aug 2026 against 1 vendor source. Pricing and data policies in this category change within weeks, so treat the date as part of the fact.
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