LM Studio vs Ollama

LM StudioView

OllamaView

MLX Score

4.3

4.8

What it is

A Mac app to find, download and chat with open models, running MLX and GGUF builds, with a local OpenAI-style server.

Run open models with one command or in its Mac app; its local API on port 11434 is what many other apps expect.

Maker

Element Labs

Ollama

Kind

Mac app · Run locally

Price

Free

Free · from $20/mo

Your data

Runs on your Mac

On your Mac or in the cloud

Licence

Proprietary

MIT

Mac

macOS 14.0+

iPhone

—

Get it

Homebrew, Website

Homebrew, Terminal, Website

Checked

2026-11-01

Every fact links its source on the listing page. Names belong to their owners; MLX isn't affiliated with either.