Best offline AI chatbot: 12 apps compared on checked facts (October 2026)
Short answer: it depends on your device and how much you want to set up. On a computer, LM Studio, Jan, Ollama and GPT4All are free and work offline once you've downloaded a model; you choose the model yourself. On a phone, PocketPal AI and Atomic Chat. For developers, Ollama, llama.cpp and KoboldCpp. GreenCube (Windows, €9.99 once) picks the AI that fits your PC by itself and also reads photos and makes pictures. All of them need internet once, for the first download.
The 12 apps, side by side
Every fact below comes from the app's own website, documentation or GitHub page, linked in each row, read on 21 October 2026. Where an app's pages don't say something, we write "not stated" instead of guessing. We haven't timed the other apps on our test PCs, so this table doesn't compare speed or answer quality.
| App | Runs on | Price | How you use it | Reads your PDFs | Looks at photos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LM Studio (site) | Windows (needs AVX2), Mac with Apple chip (macOS 14+), Linux | Free, also for work (source). Closed source | Desktop app with a chat window; also a local server | Yes: PDF, DOCX, TXT (docs) | Yes, with vision models (docs) |
| Jan (site) | Windows 10+, macOS 13.6+, Linux | Free, open source (Apache 2.0) | Desktop app with a chat window | Yes: PDF, Office files, code (docs) | Yes, with vision models |
| Ollama (site) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free on your computer; optional cloud plans from $20 a month (source). Open source (MIT) | Command line, plus a desktop chat window on Windows and Mac since July 2025 (source) | Yes, drag and drop text or PDFs | Yes, with models that support it |
| GPT4All (site) | Windows, macOS 12.6+, Linux (not ARM PCs) | Free, open source (MIT) | Desktop app with a chat window | Yes: PDF, TXT, MD with LocalDocs (docs) | Not stated |
| AnythingLLM (site) | Windows, macOS, Linux; Android app | Desktop free, open source (MIT) | Desktop app; or a server for teams (Docker) | Yes: PDF, TXT, DOCX (source) | Not stated on the pages we read |
| Msty (site) | Windows 10/11, macOS 11+, Linux | Free plan; Aurum $149 a year or $349 once. Licence not stated | Desktop app with a chat window | Yes, with Knowledge Stacks | Not stated |
| Atomic Chat (site) | Windows, macOS 13.6+, Linux; iPhone and Android apps | Free, open source (Apache 2.0) | Desktop or phone app with a chat window | Yes: files and PDFs | Not stated |
| KoboldCpp (site) | Windows, Linux, Mac with Apple chip; Android through Termux | Free, open source (AGPL-3.0) | One .exe with a launcher; you chat in your browser | Text search (TextDB); PDFs not stated | Yes, with a vision model and its extra file |
| Open WebUI (site) | Anywhere with Docker or Python 3.11; also a desktop app | Free to host yourself; own licence (keep its branding above 50 users) (licence) | Chat in your browser; usually on top of an engine like Ollama | Yes (docs) | Not stated |
| llama.cpp (site) | Windows, macOS, Linux; can be built for Android | Free, open source (MIT) | Command line; its server includes a browser chat page | Not stated | Yes, marked experimental |
| PocketPal AI (site) | iPhone/iPad (iOS 15.1+), Android | Free, open source (MIT); optional in-app extras | Phone app | Not stated | Supports vision models (app notes) |
| GreenCube (site) | Windows 10 and 11 | €9.99 (US$9.99) once, no limits. Closed source | Desktop app with a chat window; picks and downloads the AI that fits your PC | Yes: PDFs, notes, contracts | Yes: photos and screenshots; also makes pictures |
What "offline" really means
An offline AI chatbot runs the AI model on your own device: your messages are processed by your computer or phone, not sent to a company's server. That's why it keeps working on a plane or with the Wi-Fi off. But "offline" never means "never touches the internet". Three things are true of every app on this list:
- The first download needs internet. The model is a file of a few gigabytes. You download it once, then it stays on your device.
- Some features still go online, if you use them. Update checks, searching for new models, cloud models and web search all need the internet. In most of these apps the cloud parts are optional: you can stay fully local.
- "Local" doesn't mean every app collects nothing. Your chats stay on your device, but some apps send anonymous usage data about the app itself. Read the next section if that matters to you.
What each app says goes online
From each app's own privacy page or docs. These are their words, summarised; we haven't checked their network traffic ourselves.
| App | What its own pages say |
|---|---|
| LM Studio | Running models locally, "none of your messages, chat histories, and documents are ever transmitted"; the app "does not include telemetry". Update checks and model searches and downloads do go online. Cloud models and web search are paid extras you choose (privacy). |
| Jan | Doesn't collect personally identifying information; conversations "are stored locally and never leave your computer". If you connect a cloud AI (OpenAI, Anthropic and others), your messages go to that company (privacy). |
| Ollama | Running locally, Ollama doesn't see your prompts; it "may collect limited device and usage metadata (such as app version and request counts)". Cloud models run on Ollama's servers (privacy). |
| GPT4All | "No data leaves your machine"; sharing chats with the GPT4All community is opt-in and off by default (settings). Its last release was 25 February 2025 (releases). |
| AnythingLLM | Messages, chats and documents stay on your device; the app has anonymous usage telemetry that you can turn off in its settings (privacy). |
| Msty | Says it does not collect product analytics, usage telemetry or crash reports; it goes online only for features you choose, like model downloads, cloud models and updates (privacy). |
| Atomic Chat | Conversations "never leave your machine". Its privacy policy (June 2026) says in one section that the app doesn't collect telemetry, and in another that its apps collect anonymous usage statistics through PostHog (privacy). |
| KoboldCpp, llama.cpp | Their pages don't mention telemetry. llama.cpp has an offline switch that blocks network access (docs). KoboldCpp warns that koboldcpp.com is a fake site, not the project. |
| Open WebUI | "Built to run entirely offline"; web search and outside AI services need internet (source). |
| PocketPal AI | App Store label: "Data Not Collected". The app has no analytics or crash-reporting tools; feedback and benchmark results you choose to send do go out (privacy). |
| GreenCube | "We never receive your chats, files, memories or images." You sign in once to activate it, it downloads the AI and its updates, and if you switch on Online search it sends search terms to search engines. Online starts off every time you open the app. |
Which one fits you?
You're on Windows and don't want to choose models
GreenCube looks at your graphics card and memory and downloads the AI that fits, so there's nothing to pick. It reads PDFs and photos, makes flashcards and study guides, and generates pictures. It costs €9.99 once. If you'd rather not pay and don't mind choosing a model from a list, LM Studio, Jan and GPT4All are free desktop apps. What a Windows PC needs, measured.
You're on a Mac
LM Studio (Apple chips only, macOS 14+), Jan, Ollama, GPT4All, Msty and Atomic Chat all have Mac versions. GreenCube is Windows only for now.
You want it on your phone
PocketPal AI (iPhone and Android) and Atomic Chat (iPhone and Android) run models on the phone itself; AnythingLLM has an Android app. Phones fit smaller models than a gaming PC, so expect simpler answers.
You're a developer, or want a server
Ollama and llama.cpp are command-line engines with a local API; KoboldCpp is a single .exe with a browser chat. For a shared chat page for several people, Open WebUI or AnythingLLM's Docker version sit on top of an engine.
How fast is offline AI? What we measured
Speed depends far more on your computer than on the app: the model runs on your graphics card or processor. We timed GreenCube on 10 real PCs (we haven't timed the other apps on the same PCs, so we don't compare them):
| Your PC | Writes | One picture |
|---|---|---|
| 8 GB laptop, no graphics card | 5–7 tokens/s, about reading speed | can't |
| 16 GB laptop, no graphics card | 14–18 tokens/s | 2–2.5 min |
| Gaming PC with a 6 GB+ card | 37–76 tokens/s on most cards | 8–89 s |
A token is roughly three-quarters of a word, so 37 tokens a second is much faster than you can read. Your exact card, with its numbers, is in Can my PC run AI?, and how we measure explains the method.
What an offline chatbot can't do
- It doesn't know today's news. A model only knows what it learned before it was released, unless the app can search the web (and then that part is online).
- It's smaller than ChatGPT or Gemini. Models that fit on a normal PC answer everyday and study questions well, but the biggest cloud AIs are still better at the hardest problems. All of them make mistakes: check facts that matter.
- Your device does the work. On an 8 GB laptop it's about as fast as you read; on a gaming PC it's far faster. It uses your battery and memory while it writes.
How we checked
On 21 October 2026 we read each app's own website, documentation, GitHub page, app store listing and privacy policy, not reviews or other lists, and linked the page each fact comes from. We only wrote what those pages say; where they don't answer, we say "not stated". GreenCube's speeds come from our own tests on 10 PCs. We make GreenCube, so we've stuck to facts anyone can check and haven't ranked the apps. We'll check these pages again every month and update the date at the top.
Questions
What is the best offline AI chatbot?
There isn't one best for everyone. For free on a computer, where you pick the model yourself: LM Studio, Jan, Ollama or GPT4All. On a phone: PocketPal AI or Atomic Chat. For developers: Ollama, llama.cpp or KoboldCpp. GreenCube (Windows, €9.99 once) picks the AI that fits your PC by itself and also makes pictures.
Do offline AI chatbots really work without internet?
Yes, once the model is downloaded. You need internet for that first download (usually a few GB), and some things still go online if you use them: update checks, searching for new models, optional cloud models and web search.
Is there a free offline AI chatbot?
Yes. LM Studio, Jan, Ollama, GPT4All, AnythingLLM, Atomic Chat, KoboldCpp, llama.cpp and PocketPal AI are free, and Msty has a free plan. Of the 12 we checked, only GreenCube has no free version (€9.99 once).
Can an offline AI chatbot read my PDFs?
Many can: GreenCube, LM Studio, Jan, Ollama, GPT4All, AnythingLLM, Msty, Atomic Chat and Open WebUI all say they take PDFs or documents, and the reading happens on your computer.
Is there an offline AI chatbot for Android?
Yes: PocketPal AI (also on iPhone), Atomic Chat (Android and iPhone) and AnythingLLM's Android app. A phone is slower than a gaming PC and fits smaller models.
Your own AI, on your own PC
GreenCube runs on your computer: no usage limits, no subscription, works without internet. €9.99 (US$9.99), paid once.
Get GreenCube