LM Studio alternatives: 9 options for Windows, Mac, Linux and phones (2026)
Short answer: it depends on why you're leaving LM Studio. For open source, Jan is the closest swap (Apache 2.0, runs models itself, Windows, Mac and Linux), and Ollama (MIT) is the other big one. On an Intel Mac, Ollama is the one whose docs still list Intel support. On a phone, PocketPal AI or Atomic Chat. On Windows without choosing models, GreenCube (€9.99 once) picks the AI that fits your PC.
Why people look for an LM Studio alternative
LM Studio is a good app: free, also for work, with a chat window and a local OpenAI-style server, and it reads PDFs (LM Studio). What it doesn't do, from its own pages:
- It's closed source. If you want code you can read or build yourself, you need something else.
- It has hardware limits. On Windows the processor needs AVX2; on Mac it needs an Apple chip and macOS 14 or newer (requirements). Older PCs and Intel Macs are out.
- There's no phone app.
- You choose the model. That's freedom if you know models, and a wall of names if you don't.
Pick by the reason you're leaving
You want open source
Jan is the closest swap: a desktop chat app that runs models itself, reads PDFs and Office files, and serves a local OpenAI-compatible API, under Apache 2.0 (GitHub). Ollama (MIT) is a command-line engine with a desktop chat window on Windows and Mac since July 2025 (Ollama). AnythingLLM (MIT) is built around chatting with your documents.
You have an Intel Mac
LM Studio and Jan both need an Apple chip (Jan). Ollama's macOS page lists Apple M-series and x86 (CPU only), on macOS 14 Sonoma or newer (Ollama docs). Expect it to be slow: an Intel Mac runs the model on the processor alone.
You want it on your phone
PocketPal AI (iPhone and Android, MIT) and Atomic Chat (iPhone and Android, Apache 2.0) run models on the phone itself; AnythingLLM has an Android app. Phones fit smaller models than a PC, so answers are simpler.
You're on Windows and don't want to choose models
GreenCube reads your graphics card and RAM and downloads the AI that fits, then chats, reads PDFs and photos, makes flashcards and generates pictures, offline. It costs €9.99 once and runs on Windows 10 and 11. What a Windows PC needs, measured.
The 9 alternatives, side by side
From each app's own website, docs or GitHub page, checked on 21 and 23 October 2026. "Not stated" means its pages don't say. We haven't benchmarked these apps against each other.
| App | Runs on | Licence and price | Picks the model for you? | Your PDFs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan (GitHub) | Windows 10+, Mac with Apple chip (macOS 13.6+), Linux | Apache 2.0, free | No | Yes: PDF, Office files |
| Ollama (site) | Windows, Mac (Apple chip, or Intel CPU only, macOS 14+), Linux | MIT, free on your PC; cloud plans from $20 a month | No | Yes, drag and drop |
| GPT4All (GitHub) | Windows, macOS 12.6+, Linux (not ARM PCs) | MIT, free; last desktop release 25 Feb 2025 | No | Yes, with LocalDocs |
| AnythingLLM (site) | Windows, macOS, Linux; Android app | MIT, desktop free | No | Yes: PDF, TXT, DOCX |
| Msty (site) | Windows 10/11, macOS 11+, Linux | Free plan; Aurum $149 a year or $349 once; licence not stated | No | Yes, Knowledge Stacks |
| KoboldCpp (GitHub) | Windows, Linux, Mac with Apple chip | AGPL-3.0, free; one .exe, chat in your browser | No | Text search; PDFs not stated |
| PocketPal AI (GitHub) | iPhone/iPad (iOS 15.1+), Android | MIT, free | No | Not stated |
| Atomic Chat (site) | Windows, macOS 13.6+, Linux; iPhone and Android | Apache 2.0, free | No | Yes: files and PDFs |
| GreenCube (site) | Windows 10 and 11 | €9.99 (US$9.99) once; closed source | Yes, from your card and RAM | Yes: PDFs, notes, photos |
Want what each one sends online, from their privacy pages? See our comparison of 12 offline AI chatbots. Leaving a self-hosted chat page instead? See Open WebUI alternatives.
Will it be faster than LM Studio?
Most of these apps run the same open engine underneath, llama.cpp, so on the same PC with the same model the speed is set mostly by your hardware, not the app. We haven't timed the apps side by side, so we won't claim one is faster. What we did measure is GreenCube on 10 real PCs:
| Your PC | Writes |
|---|---|
| 8 GB laptop, no graphics card | 5–7 tokens/s, about reading speed |
| 16 GB laptop, no graphics card | 14–18 tokens/s |
| Gaming PC with a 6 GB+ card | 37–76 tokens/s on most cards |
Your exact card is in Can my PC run AI? The biggest speed rule holds in every app: a model that fits whole on your graphics card is fast, one that spills out of it is slow (we measured 6 times slower).
How we checked
On 21 October 2026 we read each app's own website, docs, GitHub page and privacy page, and on 23 October we re-checked Mac support on Jan's and Ollama's install pages. We linked the page each fact comes from and wrote "not stated" where a page doesn't say. We make GreenCube, so we've stuck to facts anyone can check and haven't ranked the apps. We'll check again every month.
Questions
What is the best open-source alternative to LM Studio?
Jan is the closest: a desktop chat app that runs models itself, with a local OpenAI-compatible server, licensed Apache 2.0, for Windows, Mac and Linux. Ollama (MIT) is the other main option, with a command line plus a desktop chat window on Windows and Mac.
Is there an LM Studio alternative for Intel Macs?
LM Studio and Jan both need a Mac with an Apple chip. Ollama's own docs list Intel Macs (x86) as supported, CPU only, on macOS 14 Sonoma or newer.
Is there an LM Studio alternative for Android?
LM Studio has no phone app. PocketPal AI (Android and iPhone), Atomic Chat (Android and iPhone) and AnythingLLM's Android app run models on the phone itself.
Is LM Studio free?
Yes, including for work, but it is closed source. On Windows it needs a processor with AVX2; on Mac it needs an Apple chip and macOS 14 or newer.
Is there an LM Studio alternative that picks the model for me?
GreenCube (Windows 10 and 11, €9.99 once) reads your graphics card and RAM and downloads the AI that fits, so there's no list of models to choose from. The free alternatives all let you, and expect you to, choose a model yourself.
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