AnythingLLM vs Jan
We give AnythingLLM and Jan the same GPA: 3.4 out of 4.0. AnythingLLM grades higher on features. Jan grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
AnythingLLM
Open-source AI app for documents, agents and local models
Free plan · from $50/mo
How we grade them
| 3.4GPAAnythingLLMVery good | 3.4GPAJanVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BMost of it is free, so paying is optional. What's sold is hosting: a private multi-user instance at $50 a month, or $99 with priority resources. Fair for a small team, steep for one person, and you still bring your own LLM API key. You can self-host the same thing with Docker for nothing. | AIt costs nothing. Jan is free and open source under Apache 2.0, with no paid plan and no account. The only bills come from cloud providers, and only if you choose to connect one with your own API key. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe desktop app is free for personal and commercial use, with no account. The multi-user version is MIT-licensed and free to self-host with Docker. The only free limits are daily allowances on its Magic tools, such as dictation and autocomplete. | AThe full desktop app is free: local models, cloud connections, web search and the local API server. Nothing is held back, because there's no paid tier to hold it for. |
| Features | AChat with your documents, on local models or cloud ones. Agents that search the web, read and write local files and run recurring jobs. A Meeting Assistant that transcribes and summarises on your computer with no bot in the call, plus system-wide dictation and autocomplete. | BLocal and cloud models in one app, web search that's on by default with no key needed, Projects, custom assistants, MCP connectors and an OpenAI-compatible server for your other apps. Solid. But Cowork, the multi-step agent, ships only in nightly builds, and memory is marked as coming soon. |
| Ease of use | BThe desktop app recommends a local model to suit your hardware and needs no API key or account, so it's install and go. No rating on record, so a B at best. The team version is another story: that's Docker, or paying for the hosted one. | BInstall it, pick a model, chat. The Hub shows whether each model fits your hardware, and local ones need no account or key. There's no rating on record for a desktop app, so it stops at a B. |
| Platforms and integrations | BMac, Windows and Linux, plus an Android app that runs small models on the phone. It connects to OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, LM Studio, OpenRouter and AWS Bedrock. But there's no iPhone app, and the Magic features are Windows and macOS only. | BmacOS, Windows and Linux, though not Intel-based Macs, and no phone or web version is listed. It connects to OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Mistral AI, Groq and OpenRouter by key, and its local server lets tools such as Claude Code run on Jan's models. |
| Best for | chatting with your own documents on your own machine | running open AI models on your own computer, free |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: AnythingLLM and Jan. How we grade
Where they differ
- AnythingLLM starts at $50 per month (Basic hosted cloud instance). Jan is free.
- Only AnythingLLM lists a web app.
- Only AnythingLLM lists an Android app.
- AnythingLLM is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- AnythingLLM also covers meeting notes and AI agents.
- Jan also covers AI search.
In commonFree planmacOSWindowsLinuxOpen sourceLocal-firstAI featuresChat assistant
At a glance
| AnythingLLM | Jan | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $50 per month (Basic hosted cloud instance) | Free |
| Free plan | The desktop app is free for personal and commercial use with no account, and the MIT-licensed multi-user version can be self-hosted with Docker at no charge. | Jan is free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license, and no account is needed. Cloud models need an API key from the provider you connect. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Mintplex Labs, Inc. | Menlo Research |
| Price read from | anythingllm.com | jan.ai |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
AnythingLLM
- Chatting with private documents without sending them to a cloud service
- Teams that want a self-hosted, multi-user AI workspace
- Meeting transcripts and summaries produced on the device
Jan
- Running open models offline on your own computer
- People who want one desktop app for local and cloud models
- Developers who want a local OpenAI-compatible endpoint
Worth knowing
AnythingLLM
- The hosted cloud has no built-in LLM and does not support custom agents or MCP; you connect your own model provider.
- Magic Echo, Beacon and Tab have daily free limits. The Pro subscription that removes them is priced on a checkout page that could not be read.
- Magic features and AnythingLLM Pro work on Windows and macOS only, and the mobile app is for Android only.
- Hosted cloud instances have no GPU, and the docs warn that embedding very large documents can crash an instance on the lower tier.
Jan
- Desktop only, on macOS, Windows and Linux. Intel-based Macs are not supported.
- Local models need memory: Jan's Mac guide suggests 8GB of RAM for 3B models, 16GB for 7B models and 32GB for 13B models.
- Cloud models need your own API key from each provider, and those providers see the messages you send them.
- Cowork and the standalone Jan Agent are previews on nightly builds, and the memory feature is marked as coming soon.
Key features
AnythingLLM
- Chat with your documents
- Documents you add become part of the assistant's knowledge base. In the desktop app they are processed on the device and no data leaves it.
- Local or cloud models
- Recommends a local model to suit your hardware and needs no API key, and can also connect cloud providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
- Agents and custom skills
- Agents can search and scrape the web, read, write and search local files, run recurring background jobs and use custom agent skills.
- Meeting Assistant
- Transcribes and summarizes meetings on your own computer, producing action items, key decisions and a full transcript with no bot joining the call.
- Magic Echo, Beacon and Tab
- System-wide dictation, questions about highlighted text and autocomplete on Windows and macOS. Each has a daily free allowance that an AnythingLLM Pro subscription removes.
- Multi-user deployment
- The Docker and hosted cloud versions serve several users on one server with isolated tenants, fine-grained admin controls and white-label branding.
Jan
- Local models
- Downloads and runs open models such as Llama, Gemma and Qwen from Hugging Face using llama.cpp or MLX. The Hub shows whether each model fits your hardware.
- Cloud providers with your own key
- Connects to OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Mistral AI, Groq, OpenRouter and Azure OpenAI, or to any OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible endpoint, using an API key you supply.
- Built-in web search
- Web search and page fetch tools are on by default for models that support tool use. They run through a keyless Exa endpoint, so no API key or MCP server is needed.
- Projects and assistants
- Projects group conversations under shared instructions and files, and custom assistants keep their own instructions for recurring kinds of work.
- Local API server
- A built-in OpenAI-compatible server at localhost:1337 lets other applications use the models running in Jan, and Claude Code can be set to use them as its backend.
- MCP connectors and Cowork preview
- MCP servers add tools such as code execution and databases. Cowork, which works through multi-step tasks on files and commands, ships only in nightly builds as a preview.
Plans
AnythingLLM
Desktop and self-hosted$0
The desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux with no account, or the multi-user version self-hosted with Docker. Magic features have daily free limits.
Basic (Cloud)$50
per month
A private hosted instance on a custom subdomain for independent use or small teams, with RAG and agents set up. You bring your own LLM API key.
Pro (Cloud)$99
per month
A private hosted instance with priority resources for larger teams and a 72-hour support SLA.
EnterpriseCustom
On-premise deployment with a custom SLA, custom integrations, SSO and role-based access control.
Jan
Free$0
The full desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, with local models, cloud provider connections and the local API server.
Ways to pay less
AnythingLLM
- Other savings
Free self-hosting with Docker
The multi-user version sold as hosted cloud plans from $50 a month can instead be self-hosted with Docker for free under the MIT license.
Jan
No public discounts listed.
