M
MOpen-weight AI models, chat and coding agent you can run on your own infrastructure
Free, from $14.99/mo
LM Studio vs Ollama
Pricing, features, platforms and who each one suits — side by side.
L
Choose LM Studio if…
- you're in its core audience: developers, privacy-conscious professionals
O
Choose Ollama if…
- you want the lower entry price ($16.67/mo vs $20/mo)
- you want open source you can self-host or audit
- you work on macOS, Windows, Linux
- you're in its core audience: developers, ai engineers
Side by side
Feature LM Studio Ollama
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starting price$20/mo$16.67/mo
Free plan
Free trial
API
Open source
Trains AI on your contentNoNo
Data retentionPrompts and responses not retained; cloud requests processed transiently (Zero Data Retention)Cloud prompts/responses processed transiently, not stored beyond request time
Security and complianceGDPR—
Updates, last 90 days7—
GitHub stars—185K
Works fully offline
Optional cloud models
OpenAI-compatible API—
Apple Silicon acceleration—
Team admin / SSO
Platforms—macOS, Windows, Linux, API
CategoryLocal & Open ModelsLocal & Open Models
CompanyElement Labs, Inc.Ollama
Based inUnited States—
Founded——
Part of——
Key features
L LM Studio
- Bionic agent creates and edits documents, slides and PDFs
- Coding, automation and computer control tasks
- In-app download of local LLMs
- Runtime powered by MLX and llama.cpp
- Real-time on-device voice transcription in multiple languages
- Optional US-hosted open frontier models with zero data retention
- LM Link connects up to 5 devices on Free
- JavaScript and Python SDKs plus the lms CLI
O Ollama
- Run open models locally with unlimited usage
- Cloud-hosted open models with pay-as-you-go token pricing
- Off-peak discounted rates for some models
- Tool calling support on compatible cloud models
- Concurrent requests up to 10 on higher plans
- API keys with per-key cost budgets (Enterprise)
- Shared team billing and administration
- Usage alert email at 90% of monthly allowance
Plans and prices
From each vendor's site. Prices change — confirm before buying.
LM Studio
Free$0
Bionic+$20 USD/month
Pro$100 USD/month
Ollama
Free$0
Pro$20/mo or $200/yr ($16.67/mo billed annually)
Max$100/mo
Team (early access)$500/mo
EnterpriseCustom
Strengths and limitations
LM Studio
- Free plan includes the agent, local models and offline transcription
- Voice data is processed locally
- Cloud services are stated to use Zero Data Retention
- SDKs for JavaScript and Python plus a CLI
- Hosted frontier models require a paid plan starting at $20/month
- Free plan has only limited web search
- Team subscription plans are not yet available
Ollama
- Local model use is free and unlimited
- Prompt and response data is never logged or trained on
- Open source project on GitHub
- Published per-token prices for every cloud model
- Free cloud usage is limited to starter models unless you buy credits
- Unused monthly credits do not roll over
- Free plan allows only 1 concurrent cloud request
- Cloud hosting is primarily in the US
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Built from each vendor's public website; we haven't tested them hands-on. Editorial policy