Cherry Studio vs PocketPal AI
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
PocketPal AI
Open-source app for running AI models offline on phones and tablets
Free plan · from $0.99 one-time
Where they differ
- Only Cherry Studio lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps.
- Cherry Studio also covers AI agents.
In commonFree planiOSAndroidOpen sourceWorks offlineLocal-firstAI featuresChat assistant
At a glance
| Cherry Studio | PocketPal AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $0.99 per premium Pal, one-time (US App Store in-app purchase) |
| Free plan | The Community Edition is free and open source under AGPL-3.0. It includes no model credits: you connect your own provider API keys or local models. | The app is free, ad-free and open source, with no subscription or paid tier for the AI itself. Only premium Pals from the PalsHub marketplace cost money. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Shanghai Qianhui Technology Co., Ltd. | Gooya UG (haftungsbeschränkt) |
| Price read from | github.com | apps.apple.com |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Cherry Studio
- People who already hold API keys for several model providers
- Running local models through Ollama or LM Studio with a full desktop interface
- Users who want chat history and documents kept on their own device
PocketPal AI
- Running open models privately on an iPhone, iPad or Android phone
- Trying many GGUF models from Hugging Face on a mobile device
- Checking how fast a particular phone runs local models
Worth knowing
Cherry Studio
- No model access is included: you add your own API keys or local models, and each provider charges for usage separately.
- The Android, iPhone and iPad apps are in beta and are distributed as an APK and through TestFlight.
- Central model access, employee accounts and access control are in the Enterprise Edition only, which is quoted on request.
- AGPL-3.0 terms apply to commercial use; a commercial license that exempts a business from them is arranged by email.
PocketPal AI
- It is built for phones and tablets only; the App Store listing marks it as not verified for macOS.
- Which models run, and how fast, depends on the device's memory and chip, so each model's quantization has to be chosen to fit.
- The built-in tools are limited to a calculator, date and time, and HTML rendering.
- Premium Pals are paid extras, and prices differ between the App Store, Google Play and the PalsHub website, which charges in euros.
Key features
Cherry Studio
- Multi-provider chat
- Connects to more than 50 providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini and DeepSeek, and to local models through Ollama and LM Studio. One question can be sent to several models at once to compare replies.
- Work agent and MCP servers
- Work is the agent mode: it carries out a task on its own by reading files, running commands and reasoning over several steps. MCP servers add external tools and services.
- Knowledge base
- Imports PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, TXT and Markdown files, URLs and sitemaps into a local knowledge base with vector search that chats can draw on.
- Quick Assistant and Selection Assistant
- A global hotkey opens a small question window, and a floating toolbar calls AI on text selected in any app for translation, summaries or explanations.
- Painting, translation and notes
- Separate panels generate images with text-to-image models, translate text side by side and keep Markdown notes that can be exported to a knowledge base.
- Local storage and backup
- Chat history, settings and knowledge base files are stored on the device. Backups can be local or sent to WebDAV, on a schedule if wanted.
PocketPal AI
- On-device chat with GGUF models
- Runs open models such as Gemma, Qwen, Phi and Llama through llama.cpp on the phone's CPU, GPU or, on Qualcomm chips, NPU. Nothing is sent to a server.
- Hugging Face downloads
- Search, bookmark and download GGUF models from the Hugging Face Hub inside the app, picking a quantization that fits the device. Gated models work with your own access token.
- Pals and PalsHub
- A Pal is an assistant with its own default model, system prompt and personality, in Assistant or Roleplay form. PalsHub lists Pals made by other people, both free and paid.
- On-device text-to-speech
- Replies can be read aloud by neural voice engines such as Kokoro that run on the phone, so speech needs no cloud service either.
- Built-in tools
- Capable Pals can call tools in the middle of a conversation: a calculator, the current date and time, and rendering of HTML that the model writes.
- Benchmarking and leaderboard
- Measures tokens per second and memory use for a model on your device. Results can optionally be submitted to the public AI Phone Leaderboard.
Plans
Cherry Studio
Community Edition$0
The full desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux under AGPL-3.0. You supply your own API keys or local models.
Enterprise EditionCustom
A privately deployed server with an admin backend for central model access, employee accounts, shared knowledge bases, access control and backup. Sold as a buyout or subscription.
PocketPal AI
Free$0
The full app: offline chat with GGUF models, Hugging Face downloads, text-to-speech, your own Pals, built-in tools and benchmarking.
Premium Pals$0.99 to $2.99
per Pal, one-time in-app purchase (US App Store)
Optional community-made assistants from PalsHub. Google Play's US listing shows $1.39 to $2.79 per item, and the PalsHub website prices paid Pals from €1.49.
