OpenMAIC
OpenMAIC is Tsinghua University's free, open-source AI classroom that turns a topic or PDF into a lesson led by AI teachers and classmates.
OpenMAIC is a free, open-source AI classroom from Tsinghua University's THU-MAIC team: give it a topic or PDF and it builds a lesson with slides, quizzes and simulations led by AI teachers and classmates. The code is MIT-licensed and free even for commercial use, but you pay for your own AI models and hosting.
A free, powerful AI classroom engine for people who can host it.
Open-source software that generates and runs an interactive class with AI teacher and classmate agents from a prompt or document.
OpenMAIC is a serious research-backed project with fast, frequent releases and a licence that lets you build on it commercially. It goes further than most AI lesson generators by running the class, not just writing the materials. The cost is technical: you need a server, a database and paid model keys, and you are your own support desk. Also check the address bar, since several look-alike sites rank for the name.
Broad lesson generation, an open licence and very active development.
Self-hosting setup, your own model bills, and no official hosted plan or support.
What OpenMAIC costs
| Option | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted (open source) | $0 licence | MIT code; you pay your own LLM, voice and image providers and hosting |
| Official demo at open.maic.chat | Not published | Access code needed; no published limits |
From the OpenMAIC README on GitHub, checked 4 October 2026. Third-party sites such as openmaic.chat are not run by the Tsinghua team and set their own prices.
What you need to self-host
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Runtime | Node.js 22.19 or newer, pnpm 10 or newer |
| Database | PostgreSQL 16 (pnpm db:up starts one in Docker) |
| AI provider | At least one LLM key, or a local model via Ollama or Lemonade |
| Deployment | Local, Docker Compose or Vercel with an external PostgreSQL |
| Optional | Render service for MP4 export; ffmpeg for audio and video extraction |
From the OpenMAIC README (v1.1.2), checked 4 October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
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