LocalAI vs Ollama

In short

• Both: VS Code, Choice of models, Self-hosted, API, Runs models for you
• Only LocalAI states: Runs commands, Command line, Builds agents and workflows, Search over your data
• Only Ollama states: No code retained

LocalAI

LocalAI runs AI models on your own hardware through an OpenAI-compatible local server and web interface.

Plans

Not read from the maker’s page yet.

Prices checked 2026-09-25 on the maker’s page.

Capabilities

• Runs commands — “It runs shell commands behind an approval gate you control, delegates to sub-agents, and loads MCP servers, plugins and skills.” source
• VS Code — “Install on openSUSE and drive it from VS Code” source
• Command line — “Run local-ai chat and you are talking to an agent that already knows where your models are.” source
• Choice of models — “Every tier of every model we quantize, ranked against the hardware you actually have and installed with one click.” source
• Self-hosted — “keep your data on your hardware, and scale to a room full of GPUs when you need more capacity.” source
• API — “One binary with an OpenAI-compatible API in front of it.” source
• Runs models for you — “Point an existing client at it and the calls keep working, except now the model is on your machine.” source
• Builds agents and workflows — “Run local-ai chat and you are talking to an agent that already knows where your models are.” source
• Search over your data — “Agents, MCP, skills, RAG, interactive tools” source

Latest updates

• 2026-09-17 v4.10.0 (v4.10.0)

  Added a fleet operations dashboard, credentials.yaml authentication, and CLI end-to-end latency and throughput benchmarking.

• 2026-08-20 v4.9.0 (v4.9.0)

  Authentication now defaults to deny; chat supports context compression, canonical model/backend pages, and video serving in vllm-cpp.

• 2026-08-05 v4.8.0 (v4.8.0)

  Added the vllm-cpp backend, 3D generation, a multi-family audio.cpp engine, hardware-matched gallery builds, and distributed-mode fixes.

Ollama

Ollama runs open models locally or in the cloud and connects them to coding agents, applications, and an API.

Plans

Free

Free

• Run models locally
• Starter usage credits included
• Includes access to starter models
• Add credits to unlock all models
• No service fees

Pro

• $20 / mo.
• $200/yr billed annually
• $16.67 / mo. billed annually

• $60 of usage credits per month
• Access to larger pro models
• Run multiple models concurrently
• Fast mode (coming soon)

Max

• $100 / mo.

• $300 of usage credits per month
• Early access to the newest models
• 10 concurrent requests
• Everything in Pro

Team

• $500 / mo.

• Unlimited users
• $1,000 of usage credits per month, shared across the team
• Centralized billing and administration
• Priority support
• Shared projects, skills, and instructions (coming soon)

Enterprise

Price on request

• Model access controls
• Limit team access to specific models
• Set cost budgets for users and API keys
• Private Slack channel with dedicated support
• Custom security questionnaires

Prices checked 2026-09-26 on the maker’s page.

Capabilities

• VS Code — “Claude Code Codex OpenCode Hermes Agent OpenClaw VS Code Pi n8n” source
• Choice of models — “Switch models without changing your workflow.” source
• Self-hosted — “Run models locally” source
• No code retained — “Every request runs on dedicated compute in the US and Europe, plus Singapore for a limited set of Qwen models, with zero data retention.” source
• API — “Works with popular coding agents, including Claude Code and Codex, plus an API for your own tools” source
• Runs models for you — “Ollama hosts models and compute resources primarily in the United States.” source

Latest updates

• 2026-09-24 v0.34.4 (v0.34.4)

  Structured outputs on thinking models now apply in one pass; fixed model lookup and macOS app issues and changed Apple Silicon processing.

• 2026-09-22 v0.34.3 (v0.34.3)

  GET /api/show now exposes model thinking controls and defaults; Nemotron H vision models are supported on Apple Silicon with MLX.

• 2026-09-17 v0.34.2 (v0.34.2)

  Added first-run sign-in or local setup and an ollama://apps link to open the desktop app’s Apps page on macOS and Windows.