Jan vs SillyTavern (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Jan grades higher than SillyTavern: 3.0 against 2.6 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 features and ease of use. SillyTavern grades higher on platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
SillyTavern
Free, self-hosted chat interface for LLMs with deep prompt control
Free
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 SillyTavern if
- Fits if you like tuning prompts, characters and lorebooks for roleplay
- Works for people who run local models and want one front end for all of them
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you do not want to install NodeJS or use Git, as there is no hosted account
- Too light on its own, as you must supply a model, hosted or local
- Not for you if you want a quick start, as the docs warn of a steep learning curve
- Watch out: Windows 7 is not supported, and Android runs through the Termux guide
- Watch out: the staging branch is not recommended for casual use
How we grade them
| 3.0GPAJanVery good | 2.6GPASillyTavernGood | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 and open source under AGPL-3.0, and anyone can download and run it. Whatever model API you connect is billed by that provider. |
| 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 plan and no cap from SillyTavern. A hosted model or a local one costs you separately. |
| 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. | DIt is an interface and needs a model from somewhere else to be useful. Its docs suggest a 6GB NVIDIA 3000-series GPU for local inference. |
| 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. | DIt needs NodeJS 20 or higher, usually installed through Git, and the docs warn of a steep learning curve. |
| 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. | BWindows, Mac, Linux, a browser and Android through Termux, linking to KoboldAI, NovelAI, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Claude, Mistral and ComfyUI. No iPhone. |
| Best for | running open AI models on your own computer, free | roleplay and character chat with your own model |
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 SillyTavern. 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. SillyTavern has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
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 SillyTavern 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
- SillyTavern is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Jan also covers AI search.
- SillyTavern also covers image generation and text to speech.
In commonFree planmacOSWindowsLinuxOpen sourceChat assistant
At a glance
| Jan | SillyTavern | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Menlo Research | SillyTavern community |
| Price read from | jan.ai | docs.sillytavern.app |
| 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.
SillyTavern
- It must be installed with NodeJS 20 or higher, usually through Git or a launcher, and Windows 7 is not supported.
- It is only an interface: you supply the model, either a hosted API or a local one. The docs suggest an NVIDIA 3000-series GPU with 6GB of VRAM for local inference.
- The docs warn of a steep learning curve, and the staging branch is not recommended for casual use.
- Android runs through the Termux installation guide, and there is no hosted account.
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.
SillyTavern
- One interface for many backends
- Connects to KoboldAI/CPP, Horde, NovelAI, Ooba, Tabby, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Claude, Mistral and other LLM APIs from a single interface.
- Prompt and lorebook control
- Offers extensive prompt options and WorldInfo (lorebooks), in line with the project's stated goal of giving users as much control over prompts as possible.
- Image generation and TTS
- Integrates with Automatic1111 and ComfyUI APIs for images and supports text-to-speech voice models, alongside auto-translate.
- Customizable UI
- A customizable interface with a mobile-friendly layout and a Visual Novel Mode for character conversations.
- Third-party extensions
- The project describes growth through third-party extensions, and the code is maintained by more than 300 contributors on GitHub.
Plans
Jan
Free$0
The full desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, with local models, cloud provider connections and the local API server.
SillyTavern
Free$0
Open-source (AGPL-3.0) software you install and run yourself. Model API usage is billed by whichever provider you connect.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Jan or SillyTavern?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Jan and SillyTavern are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Jan or SillyTavern?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Jan and SillyTavern have a free plan.
Which platforms do Jan and SillyTavern run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only SillyTavern lists a web app and an Android app. Both list macOS, Windows 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.