LM Studio vs Locally AI
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
LM Studio
Desktop app for running open AI models on your own computer
Free plan · from $20/mo
Locally AI
Free app that runs open AI models offline on iPhone, iPad and Mac
Free
Where they differ
- LM Studio starts at $20 per month (Bionic+, for cloud models). Locally AI is free.
- Only LM Studio lists Windows and Linux apps.
- Only Locally AI lists an iOS app.
- LM Studio also covers AI agents.
In commonFree planmacOSWorks offlineLocal-firstAI featuresChat assistant
At a glance
| LM Studio | Locally AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $20 per month (Bionic+, for cloud models) | Free |
| Free plan | LM Studio is free for home and work use. Bionic's Free plan covers the agent, local models, offline voice transcription, LM Link for up to 5 devices and limited web search. | The app is free on the App Store and Mac App Store, with no login. The US listing shows no in-app purchases. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Made by | Element Labs, Inc. | Element Labs, Inc. |
| Price read from | lmstudio.ai | apps.apple.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
LM Studio
- Running open models privately on a Mac, Windows or Linux computer
- Developers who want a local OpenAI-like endpoint for their own tools
- Agent work on code and documents with open models, through Bionic
Locally AI
- Trying open models on an iPhone, iPad or Mac at no cost
- LM Studio users who want their desktop models on a phone
- Private chats that work with no connection and no account
Worth knowing
LM Studio
- LM Studio itself is desktop only; on iPhone and iPad its models are reached through the separate Locally app. Intel-based Macs are not supported.
- Local models need capable hardware: the docs recommend 16GB of RAM or more, and on Windows at least 4GB of dedicated VRAM.
- The paid plans cover cloud models in LM Studio Bionic, a separate app; cloud use needs an LM Studio account with available credits.
- LM Link is in preview and free for now; LM Studio says free and paid LM Link plans will follow at general availability.
Locally AI
- It is available only for recent iPhone, iPad and Mac models, and is optimized for Apple Silicon chips.
- Which models run depends on the device's memory; the site points to iPad and Mac for the largest ones.
- Using larger models through LM Link requires LM Studio running on a computer of your own.
- LM Studio acquired the app in April 2026, and the App Store now lists it as Locally AI by LM Studio.
Key features
LM Studio
- Local model runner
- Downloads and runs open models such as gpt-oss, Qwen, Gemma and DeepSeek on your own hardware with llama.cpp, plus Apple's MLX on Apple Silicon Macs.
- Offline chat with documents
- Chat and document chat (RAG) run on the device. The docs say nothing entered into a local chat or dropped into it as a document leaves the machine.
- Local API server and SDKs
- Serves models on OpenAI-like endpoints on localhost or the local network, with Python and TypeScript SDKs, the lms command line tool and the headless llmster daemon for servers.
- MCP client
- MCP servers can be installed in LM Studio so that local models can call the tools they provide.
- LM Link
- Links your own machines over an end-to-end encrypted connection built on Tailscale, so a model on a remote device can be used as if local, including from an iPhone through the Locally app. In preview.
- LM Studio Bionic agent
- A separate app that works on code and on documents, slides and spreadsheets inside projects, using local models, LM Link models or cloud models billed in credits.
Locally AI
- On-device models through MLX
- Downloads and runs open models from the Llama, Gemma, Qwen, DeepSeek, SmolLM, Granite, Cogito and LFM families on Apple Silicon, using Apple's MLX framework.
- Offline, with no account
- Once a model is downloaded, chats run with no internet connection and no login. The vendor says processing stays on the device and no data is collected.
- LM Link to LM Studio
- Links the app to LM Studio on your own computer over an end-to-end encrypted connection, so an iPhone or iPad can use larger models than it could run itself.
- Local voice mode
- Holds real-time spoken conversations with a model, with the speech handled on the device instead of by a cloud service.
- Language and vision models
- Some models take images as well as text, so a chat can analyze a picture. The app also supports Apple's on-device Foundation Models on current OS releases.
- Siri, Shortcuts and Control Center
- Talk to a local model through Siri, call models from the Shortcuts app to build automations, and open the app from Control Center, the Lock Screen or the Action Button.
Plans
LM Studio
Free$0
Local models through llama.cpp and MLX, the Bionic agent, offline voice transcription, LM Link for up to 5 devices and limited web search.
Bionic+$20
per month
Adds US-hosted open source cloud models such as Kimi K3 and DeepSeek V4 Flash, discounted bulk tokens, and web search with page extraction.
Pro$100
per month
Everything in Bionic+ with 5x the usage limits, discounted bulk tokens and early access to new features.
Locally AI
Free$0
The full app for iPhone, iPad and Mac: local models, voice mode, Siri and Shortcuts actions, and LM Link to LM Studio.
