Ollama vs LM Studio vs Jan: Which Local AI App Should You Use?

These are the three most popular ways to run AI models on your own machine. Short version: LM Studio if you want a friendly app, Ollama if you like the terminal and want to build on it, Jan if you want fully open-source and private.

Quick comparison

	LM Studio	Ollama	Jan
Interface	Polished GUI	Command line + API	Clean GUI
Ease	Easiest	Dev-friendly	Easy
Best for	Beginners, browsing models	Developers, automation	Privacy, open-source fans
Open source	No (free)	Yes	Yes
API for apps	Yes	Yes (great)	Yes

LM Studio — the friendliest start

A polished desktop app: search models, download with a click, chat in a nice UI, and it tells you if a model fits your hardware. If you've never run a local model, start here.

Pick if: you want the easiest, most visual way in.

Ollama — the developer's default

Run a model with one command (ollama run llama3) and get a local API that tons of apps and tools plug into. It's the backbone of the local-AI ecosystem. A little more technical, hugely powerful.

Pick if: you're comfy in a terminal or want to build on top of it.

Jan — open-source and private

A fully open-source, offline-first app. Clean interface, no account, everything stays local. Great for the privacy-first crowd who want transparency in the software too.

Pick if: open-source and privacy are non-negotiable.

Whichever app you pick, the model still has to fit your GPU.

See what your GPU can run →

The step everyone skips

The app doesn't matter if the model doesn't fit your VRAM — you'll just get errors or crawling speeds. Before you download a model in any of these, check what your GPU can actually run so you grab the right size and quant the first time.