What is Zola Chat used for?

Zola Chat is an open-source, self-hostable chat interface that talks to many AI models, including OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Mistral and local Ollama models. It is a good fit for comparing several AI models in one interface and hosting a private chat front end for a team.

Is Zola Chat open source?

Yes. Zola Chat is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at ibelick/zola and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Yes. Zola Chat is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Zola Chat?

Yes. Zola Chat can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Zola Chat an alternative to?

Zola Chat is an open-source alternative to ChatGPT, Claude and Poe. Other open-source alternatives to ChatGPT include Big-AGI, ChatChat and Better Chatbot.

Is Zola Chat actively maintained?

The most recent commit to Zola Chat was on 11 December 2025. The project has 1.5k stars on GitHub.

Zola Chat: open-source alternative to ChatGPT, Claude, Poe

About Zola Chat

Zola is an open-source chat interface for working with many AI models from one place. It supports OpenAI, Mistral, Claude, Gemini and local models through Ollama, and lets you bring your own API keys, including through OpenRouter. It is aimed at individuals and teams who want a clean multi-model chat app they can host and change themselves rather than being tied to a single vendor.

Features include file uploads, a responsive interface with light and dark themes, a user-defined system prompt, multiple layout options, and automatic detection of local Ollama models. Support for the Model Context Protocol is listed as work in progress. The interface is built with Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui, prompt-kit and motion-primitives, uses the Vercel AI SDK for model integration, and relies on Supabase for authentication and storage when those features are enabled.

The quick start offers three routes: OpenAI in the cloud, Ollama locally, or Docker with Ollama. Zola is licensed under Apache-2.0 and written in TypeScript with Next.js. The README labels it a beta release whose codebase may change.

Key features

Multi-model chat for OpenAI, Claude, Gemini and Mistral
Local models through Ollama with auto-detection
Bring your own API key via OpenRouter
File uploads
Custom system prompt and layout options
Light and dark themes
Docker deployment

Good fit for

→Comparing several AI models in one interface
→Hosting a private chat front end for a team

Built with: TypeScript; Next.js
Tags: ai-chat; llm; multi-model; ollama; nextjs; self-hosted; openrouter; byok

Zola Chat: questions and answers

What is Zola Chat used for?: Zola Chat is an open-source, self-hostable chat interface that talks to many AI models, including OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Mistral and local Ollama models. It is a good fit for comparing several AI models in one interface and hosting a private chat front end for a team.
Is Zola Chat open source?: Yes. Zola Chat is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at ibelick/zola and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Zola Chat free?: Yes. Zola Chat is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Zola Chat?: Yes. Zola Chat can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Zola Chat an alternative to?: Zola Chat is an open-source alternative to ChatGPT, Claude and Poe. Other open-source alternatives to ChatGPT include Big-AGI, ChatChat and Better Chatbot.
Is Zola Chat actively maintained?: The most recent commit to Zola Chat was on 11 December 2025. The project has 1.5k stars on GitHub.