Open WebUI gives you a self-hosted chat interface for local models, but reaching it away from home fails behind CGNAT, or on a GPU host that blocks inbound ports. NeedPorts gives Open WebUI a stable public endpoint you can open from any browser.
Open WebUI serves a web app on a local port that is only reachable on your network by default. Behind CGNAT, or on a rented GPU host without public inbound ports, there is no external path to that port, so the page will not load remotely.
Open your self-hosted AI chat from a laptop or phone anywhere, pointed at the machine that runs your models.
The browser cannot connect from outside the network, because the host does not expose an inbound port to the Open WebUI service.
NeedPorts gives you dedicated public ports over an outbound tunnel, so nothing depends on your ISP or router. After install, map one of your assigned ports to Open WebUI (local port 8080) and restart:
sudo needports use open-webui <assigned-port>
sudo needports restartYour Open WebUI instance is then reachable at your dedicated public endpoint, for example your-server:30000, with no port forwarding on the local network.
Open WebUI can reach your models and data, so protect it with a strong login, enable its authentication, and consider IP restrictions. Do not publish it without account protection in place.
After mapping the port, open the public endpoint in a browser on another network and confirm the login screen loads. That verifies the tunnel is serving the app before you rely on it.
NeedPorts plans start at $5/month or $30/year for 25 dedicated ports, which is plenty for Open WebUI and other self-hosted services on the same box.