LIVE
EU AI Act enforcement begins · June 2026NIST AI RMF — risk management framework publishedISO/IEC 42001 AI management standard now certifiableOpenAI o3 sets new reasoning benchmarksAnthropic raises $4B Series EEU AI Act enforcement begins · June 2026NIST AI RMF — risk management framework publishedISO/IEC 42001 AI management standard now certifiableOpenAI o3 sets new reasoning benchmarksAnthropic raises $4B Series EEU AI Act enforcement begins · June 2026NIST AI RMF — risk management framework publishedISO/IEC 42001 AI management standard now certifiableOpenAI o3 sets new reasoning benchmarksAnthropic raises $4B Series E

Ollama

Free
Featured
API Available

Run Llama, Mistral, Gemma and 100+ open models locally in one command

Ollama · Infrastructure

Launched Jul 2023

Visit Website

Quick Answer

Ollama is run llama, mistral, gemma and 100+ open models locally in one command, made by Ollama. It is free and open source. Key uses: Private/offline AI, Developer testing, Air-gapped enterprise.

Last updated:

Users

100K+ GitHub stars; millions of installs

What is Ollama?

Ollama is an open-source tool that makes it trivially easy to download and run large language models locally on your machine. With a single command like `ollama run llama3`, you get a local model with an OpenAI-compatible API, no data leaving your device. Supports macOS, Windows, and Linux with Metal (Apple Silicon) and CUDA GPU acceleration.

What's new in Ollama in 2026?

Ollama 0.5 (Jan 2025) — concurrent model loading; 150+ model library; OpenAI API compatibility; Ollama JavaScript and Python libraries; 100K+ GitHub stars; fastest growing open-source AI tooling; integration with Open WebUI for Ollama gives best local ChatGPT-like experience

How much does Ollama cost?

Free / Open-Source

$0

  • All models free
  • Local GPU inference
  • OpenAI-compatible API
  • No rate limits
  • MIT license

What can you do with Ollama?

  • Private/offline AI
  • Developer testing
  • Air-gapped enterprise
  • Local coding assistant
  • Cost-free AI inference

Pros

  • Completely free and open-source
  • Data never leaves device
  • OpenAI-compatible API
  • 100+ models available
  • GPU-accelerated (Apple Silicon/CUDA)

Cons

  • Requires capable hardware
  • Slower than cloud APIs
  • No GUI by default
  • Model quality limited by hardware

What are the best alternatives to Ollama?

Replicate

Platforms

Groq API

APIs

vLLM

Infrastructure

Compare Ollama Head-to-Head

Ollama vs Replicate
Ollama vs Groq API
Ollama vs vLLM

Frequently Asked Questions about Ollama

How much does Ollama cost?

Ollama pricing: Free / Open-Source at $0.

Is Ollama free?

Yes, Ollama is fully free and open source.

What is Ollama used for?

Ollama is used for: Private/offline AI, Developer testing, Air-gapped enterprise, Local coding assistant, Cost-free AI inference.

What are the best alternatives to Ollama?

Top alternatives to Ollama include Replicate, Groq API, vLLM.

What platforms does Ollama support?

Ollama is available on: macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel), Windows, Linux.

Details

Vendor

Ollama

Category

Infrastructure

Pricing Model

Free

Launched

Jul 2023

Website

ollama.com

Underlying Models

Llama 3.3 70BMistral 7BGemma 3DeepSeek R1Qwen 2.5Phi-4100+ community models

Platforms

macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel)WindowsLinux

Integrations

Open WebUIContinue.devLangChainLlamaIndexCursorVS CodeObsidiann8n

Ideal For

  • Privacy-conscious developers
  • Air-gapped enterprises
  • Researchers
  • Hobbyists
  • Teams avoiding cloud API costs

Tags

Open-SourceLocal AIPrivacySelf-HostedLlamaGPUCLI