local llm tools

ranked on what the licence file says as much as on how well they run — because in this category being called open source and being open source have come apart.

5 listed · 5 researched by us · featured first, then most upvoted

Jan

we checked thisfree

gui, server and inference engine all apache 2.0 — the only tool here where every layer is genuinely open.

#anyone-who-wants-ollama-

llama.cpp

we checked thisfree

mit, and the engine most of this list is quietly built on top of.

#anyone-comfortable-at-a-#anyone-who-wants-the-new

Ollama

we checked thisfree

the easiest way in, and only partly the open-source project everyone believes it is.

#getting-a-model-running-#which-it-still-does-bett

LM Studio

we checked thisfree

the best desktop experience here, and unambiguously proprietary software wrapped around open engines.

#apple-silicon-users-who-#a-polished-app#don-t-need-to-ship-anyth

LocalAI

we checked thisfree

mit, container-native, and the only one here that serves text, images and audio behind one openai-compatible endpoint.

#self-hosting-a-drop-in-o#not-for-chatting-on-a-la

this page is deliberately short: a handful of local llm tools we looked at properly, rather than everything that exists. if you build one that belongs here, a free listing takes two minutes and $50 pins it to the top of this page.

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