Compare
AI Stays Local and Ollama
An open-source tool for running and managing open models on your own computer, from a command line and a REST API.
When Ollama is the better fit
- You want an open-source tool you can install today and drive from a terminal or a REST API.
- You already know which model you want and are comfortable choosing it yourself.
- You want to choose freely among open models yourself, rather than from a short list with published evidence.
Side by side
Ollama as its own public pages describe it on 2026-09-21, and AI Stays Local at the maturity its product data records. Where a source does not say, the table says so rather than guessing.
| Dimension | Ollama | AI Stays Local |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Command line and a REST API. | Command line and an OpenAI-compatible local API, in private beta for selected testers. A desktop app is planned and not built. |
| Runs models itself | Yes. It downloads, runs and manages models locally. | Yes. Inference sits behind an engine adapter; the recorded profiles run on upstream engines under their own licences. |
| Documents and retrieval | Not stated in the source checked | Folders you grant, lexical retrieval, answers that cite file and location, and refusal when the documents do not contain the answer. |
| Hardware planning | Not stated in the source checked | Evaluates the machine and recommends a model profile (private beta). Each model states execution, validation, usability, hardware and availability separately. |
| More than one machine | Not stated in the source checked | Planned. Multi-node execution is designed and not implemented. |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux and Docker. | Command line on Linux and macOS for selected testers. Measurements published from one Linux ARM64 machine. |
| Licence | MIT. | Commercial product. A Free edition is defined for local use; paid prices are provisional. The runtime is not open source. |
Where AI Stays Local puts its emphasis
- AI Stays Local starts from the machine: it evaluates the hardware and recommends a model profile, with the limits stated before anything is downloaded.
- Each model on this site states separately whether it runs, whether it was validated, whether it is usable and on what hardware, with the measurement and method published.
- Cited answers from folders you grant, with refusal when the documents do not cover the question, are part of the product rather than something to assemble.
Sources, checked 2026-09-21: Ollama repository README. Descriptions of other projects are summaries of their own public pages on that date and may since have changed. No statement here is a claim about another project's security.