AnythingLLM vs LibreChat
We give AnythingLLM a 3.4 GPA and LibreChat a 3.2, out of 4.0. AnythingLLM grades higher on ease of use. LibreChat grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features 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 | 3.2GPALibreChatVery 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. LibreChat is MIT-licensed, with no subscriptions and no paid tier. What you do pay for is the server you run it on and the model API keys you plug in. |
| 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 application is free: agents, the code interpreter, MCP, web search and SSO, with nothing held back. The public demo is for evaluation only, though, so using it properly means hosting it yourself. |
| 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. | AOpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Azure and AWS Bedrock out of the box, with custom endpoints for Ollama and OpenRouter. Agents with tools and API actions, a sandboxed code interpreter, MCP, web search with reranking, artifacts, and multi-user sign-in through OAuth2, SAML or LDAP. |
| 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. | DYou host it yourself, with Docker, npm or a Helm chart, then add your own API keys. The code interpreter, message search and file chat each need an extra service deployed as well. Fine if you run servers for a living, a wall if you don't. |
| 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. | BIt's a web app, so once it's running, any browser can reach it, and it connects to a long list of model providers plus MCP servers. But the docs say there's no native Windows app or Linux AppImage, and no phone app is listed. |
| Best for | chatting with your own documents on your own machine | a self-hosted AI chat your team controls |
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 LibreChat. How we grade
Where they differ
- AnythingLLM starts at $50 per month (Basic hosted cloud instance). LibreChat is free.
- Only AnythingLLM lists macOS, Windows, Linux and Android apps.
- AnythingLLM also covers meeting notes.
- LibreChat also covers AI search.
In commonFree planWebOpen sourceSelf-hostableAI featuresChat assistantAI agents
At a glance
| AnythingLLM | LibreChat | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Free and open source under the MIT license, with no subscriptions. You host it yourself and add your own model API keys; a public demo is offered for evaluation only. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Mintplex Labs, Inc. | LibreChat (ClickHouse) |
| Price read from | anythingllm.com | librechat.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
LibreChat
- Teams that want a self-hosted chat interface they can audit and extend
- Organizations that need SSO and control over where chat data lives
- Using API keys from several model providers in one place
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.
LibreChat
- It is a self-hosted web application: the docs say there is no native Windows app or Linux AppImage, and no hosted paid plan is offered.
- You run it yourself with Docker, npm or a Helm chart and supply your own model API keys.
- The public demo at chat.librechat.ai is for evaluation only and is not meant for private data.
- The code interpreter, message search and file chat rely on extra services you deploy: a code-execution service, Meilisearch and the RAG API.
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.
LibreChat
- Many providers in one interface
- Works with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Azure and AWS Bedrock out of the box, and custom endpoints add Ollama, Mistral AI, OpenRouter and other services.
- Agents
- Build custom assistants with tools, file handling, code execution and API actions without writing code.
- Code Interpreter
- Runs Python, JavaScript, Go, Rust and other languages in a sandbox. It is powered by an Apache 2.0 code-execution service that you deploy and point LibreChat at.
- MCP and web search
- Connects models to external tools through Model Context Protocol servers and gives any model live internet access with built-in search and reranking.
- Artifacts and chat tools
- Generates React components, HTML pages and Mermaid diagrams in chat, and supports forking, shareable links, temporary chats and importing conversations from ChatGPT.
- Multi-user authentication
- Sign-in through OAuth2, SAML or LDAP with two-factor authentication, plus an admin panel for users, roles and configuration, and moderation tools.
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.
LibreChat
Free$0
The full self-hosted application, including agents, the code interpreter, MCP, web search and SSO, under the MIT license.
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.
LibreChat
No public discounts listed.
