Jan vs LocalAI (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Jan grades higher than LocalAI: 3.0 against 2.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Jan grades higher on ease of use. LocalAI grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
Pick Jan if
- Fits if you want open models running on your own computer, with no account and no internet
- Works for developers who want a local OpenAI-compatible endpoint for their other tools
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want it on your phone or in a browser, because it's desktop only
- Tight if your computer is short on memory: Jan's Mac guide suggests 16GB of RAM for 7B models and 32GB for 13B
- Not for you if you have an Intel-based Mac, which isn't supported
- Watch out: cloud models need your own key from each provider, and that provider sees the messages you send
- Too light for images or voice, and Cowork, Jan Agent and memory are previews or still to come
Pick LocalAI if
- Fits if you want models running on your own hardware, with no data leaving it
- Works for developers who want a drop-in replacement for the OpenAI API
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you do not want to run software yourself, as it is a runtime to install and operate
- Too light for non-technical use, as you pick and download the models
- Not for you if you use Windows, as it is not listed on the install page
- Watch out: bigger models need more memory or a GPU for good speed
- Watch out: documentation pages have moved between addresses
How we grade them
| 3.0GPAJanVery good | 2.8GPALocalAIGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | AFree under the MIT licence and anyone can download and run it, on a CPU or a GPU. The site invites businesses to get in touch, but no paid plan is described. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | AFree outright, with no cap from the project. Your own hardware and electricity are the cost. |
| Features | CIt does the run-models-on-your-own-computer job fully, with projects, assistants, web search and an OpenAI-compatible server. A smaller job than a general assistant, though: no image generation, no voice, and Cowork and memory are nightly-build previews. | BAn OpenAI-compatible API, swappable engines, text, voice, vision and media, agents and MCP. No gap shows in the job, and the gallery lists 1,255 models, though bigger ones need more memory. |
| Ease of use | 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 we go by the listing. | DYou install and operate it yourself, through containers, a macOS app, Linux binaries or Kubernetes. |
| Platforms and integrations | CmacOS, Windows and Linux only, not Intel-based Macs, and no phone or web version at all. It connects to OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Mistral AI, Groq and OpenRouter by key, and its local server feeds tools such as Claude Code. | CMac, Linux and a web interface, with no phone app, and Windows is not listed. It links to llama.cpp, vLLM, MLX, whisper.cpp, Docker and Kubernetes. |
| Best for | running open AI models on your own computer, free | running models on your own machine, OpenAI-style API |
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: Jan and LocalAI. How we grade
Price against what you get
Jan has no paid plan and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. LocalAI has no paid plan and scores 2.0.
Jan scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other AI assistants on the chart, none scores higher than Jan for less, and none scores higher than LocalAI for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- LocalAI is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Jan also covers AI search.
- LocalAI also covers AI agents and text to speech.
In commonFree planmacOSLinuxOpen sourceLocal-firstPublic APIChat assistant
At a glance
| Jan | LocalAI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | 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. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Menlo Research | Ettore Di Giacinto and the LocalAI team |
| Price read from | jan.ai | localai.io |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
LocalAI
- It is a runtime to install and operate yourself, through containers, a macOS app, Linux binaries or Kubernetes. Windows is not listed on the install page.
- You choose and download the models. The gallery lists 1,255 models, and larger ones need more memory or a GPU for good speed.
- No paid plan or hosted service is described on the pages read. The homepage offers a business contact link.
- Documentation pages have moved between addresses, for example from /installation/ to /docs/installation/.
Key features
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.
LocalAI
- Drop-in API compatibility
- One binary serves an OpenAI-compatible API and also speaks the Anthropic, Ollama and ElevenLabs APIs, so most clients need only a new URL.
- Swappable engines
- A model can run on llama.cpp, vLLM, SGLang or MLX behind the same endpoint, and each engine is pulled in as a backend only when a model asks for it.
- Text, voice, vision and media
- Covers language models with tool calling, transcription, speech synthesis and voice cloning, vision and detection, plus image, video and music generation.
- Agents and MCP
- The local-ai chat command starts an agent that can run shell commands behind an approval gate, delegate to sub-agents and load MCP servers, plugins and skills.
- CPU-first and distributed
- The site says every feature ships a CPU path, with GPU support for CUDA, ROCm, SYCL, Metal and Vulkan, and routing across several machines.
Plans
Jan
Free$0
The full desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, with local models, cloud provider connections and the local API server.
LocalAI
Open source$0
MIT-licensed software you run yourself, on a CPU or on a GPU. The site also invites businesses to get in touch.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Jan or LocalAI?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Jan and LocalAI are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Jan or LocalAI?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Jan and LocalAI have a free plan.
Which platforms do Jan and LocalAI run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Jan lists a Windows app and only LocalAI lists a web app. Both list macOS and Linux apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.