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AssistantMenlo Research

Jan

ChatGPT alternative that runs 100% offline on your computer.

Category
Assistant
Pricing
FREE
Hosting
Local
Platforms
macOSWindowsLinuxAPI
Models
Multi-model
Verified
Jun 6, 2026

An open-source desktop assistant that runs AI models 100% offline on your own machine, bundling a local model runner so you can download and chat with open models like Llama, Gemma, and Qwen. It also supports bring-your-own keys for cloud providers when you want them, and exposes a local OpenAI-compatible server. Fully open source under Apache 2.0 with no paid tier.

Capabilities 3

What it actually does — grouped by capability family.

  • Tool / function calling (secondary capability)
  • Model inference / serving (primary capability)
  • Multi-model access (secondary capability)

Pros & cons

  • Local-first; data stays on your machine
  • Open source (Apache-2.0), no paid tier
  • Bundled model runner + model hub
  • BYO cloud keys when wanted
  • Local OpenAI-compatible server
  • More setup friction than LM Studio
  • Limited tool-calling vs full agent stacks
  • Local model speed bound by your hardware
  • Smaller ecosystem than Ollama

Tags

Further reading

View all Assistant
  • View LM Studio details
    InferenceFREE

    LM Studio

    LM Studio

    Desktop app to discover, download, and run local LLMs privately.

    A GUI for running open-weight models on your own hardware — browse and download GGUF/MLX models, chat offline, and expose an OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible local server for your apps. Includes RAG over local files, MCP tool-use support, and dual llama.cpp + Apple MLX runtimes. Free for personal and commercial use; the app itself is proprietary.

    Polished desktop GUI
    App itself is closed source
    • local
    • llm-runner
    • gui
    • privacy
  • View Ollama details
    InferenceFREEMIUMOpen core

    Ollama

    Ollama

    Run open-weight LLMs locally with one command. OpenAI-compatible API.

    The de-facto way to pull and run open-weight models (Llama, Qwen, Gemma, DeepSeek, gpt-oss) on your own machine — no API key, no data leaving the device. Ships native macOS/Windows/Linux apps, an OpenAI-compatible server, and official Python/JS libraries. MIT-licensed and free locally; an optional paid Ollama Cloud runs larger models.

    One-command pull-and-run
    Local performance bound by your hardware
    • local
    • open-source
    • llm-runner
    • self-hosted
  • View AnythingLLM details
    AssistantFREEMIUMOpen core

    AnythingLLM

    Mintplex Labs

    All-in-one private AI app for chatting with your documents, with agents.

    An all-in-one application for private, ChatGPT-style chat over your own documents, with built-in RAG, AI agents, and multi-user workspaces. Runs as a local desktop app (Mac/Windows/Linux) or self-hosted via Docker, and supports 40+ LLM providers plus local models with your own keys. Open source under MIT; Mintplex Labs also offers a paid hosted instance, making it freemium.

    MIT open source
    RAG quality depends on your setup
    • rag
    • documents
    • self-hosted
    • open-source
    • +1
  • View LibreChat details
    AssistantBYO KEYOSS

    LibreChat

    Danny Avila / LibreChat

    Self-hosted ChatGPT alternative unifying every major AI provider.

    A self-hosted AI chat platform that puts many providers behind one ChatGPT-style UI, with agents, code interpreter, web search, image generation, artifacts, file analysis, and multi-user auth. You run it yourself via Docker and supply your own model keys, or point it at a local Ollama/OpenAI-compatible endpoint. The software is MIT-licensed at no cost.

    Unifies many providers in one UI
    Self-host + Docker setup needed
    • chat
    • self-hosted
    • open-source
    • multi-model
    • +1