Build a Self-Hosted Multi-Model AI Workspace with Arena Comparison & Web Search via Open WebUI
Tired of juggling five browser tabs and paying multiple $20/month subscriptions? Deploy open-source Open WebUI (65k+ GitHub stars) via Docker to unify local Ollama models and cloud APIs (DeepSeek/Claude/OpenAI) with side-by-side multi-model responses, free SearXNG web search, and interactive Artifacts.
CORE TOOLS
Open WebUI (Open Source), Ollama, SearXNG (Open Source), DeepSeek API
BEST FOR
AI power users, developers, small teams, homelabbers sharing AI with family
REQUIREMENTS
PC/Mac/VPS with Docker or Python (`pip install open-webui`)
✦ WHY THIS WORKFLOW
Paying $20/mo each for three separate AI subscriptions adds up to $720/yr. Open WebUI gives you a unified interface with multi-model side-by-side comparison, live web search, and local privacy while paying only pennies for API tokens you actually use.
I want to deploy open-source **Open WebUI** alongside **SearXNG** via Docker Compose as a full-featured private AI workspace.
Provide:
1) [Complete `docker-compose.yml` for Open WebUI + SearXNG]: Pre-configured so Open WebUI can run unlimited free web searches over the internal Docker network (including the `formats: [html, json]` SearXNG setting);
2) [3 High-Value Custom Workspace Model Presets]: How to configure custom Model presets in `Workspace -> Models` combining specific base models, attached RAG Knowledge collections, and system prompts.
Use Cases & Tags:
Querying 2–4 LLMs side-by-side in a single chat and merging the best answerGiving local Ollama models live web search via self-hosted SearXNG or DuckDuckGoPaying pennies per API call instead of $20/mo subscriptions for every family memberRendering live HTML/React/SVG Artifacts and running Python code in-browser (Pyodide)#open-webui
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