head to head · open source
Ollama vs LocalAI
Ollama has 185,702 GitHub stars, 18,873 forks, 3,957 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LocalAI has 50,140 stars, 4,569 forks, 201 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ollama leads on adoption by 270% (185,702 vs 50,140 stars). Ollama is written in Go under MIT; LocalAI is written in Go under MIT. Ollama has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, LocalAI 9%. LocalAI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (llama, llm), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Ollama | LocalAI | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 186K | ★ 50K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 19K | ⑂ 4.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Ollama if
- You weight community size — 186K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick LocalAI if
- You want the LocalAI feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and LocalAI fits your workflow better
About Ollama
Ollama Start building with open models. Download macOS or download manually Windows or download manually Linux Manual install instructions Docker The official Ollama Docker image ollama/ollama is available on Docker Hub. Libraries ollama python ollama js Community Discord 𝕏 (Twitter) Reddit Get started You'll be prompted to run a model or connect Ollama to your existing agents or applications such as Claude Code , OpenClaw , OpenCode , Codex , Copilot , and more. Coding To launch a specific integration: Supported integrations include Claude Code, Codex, Copilot CLI, DeepSeek Harness, Droid, and OpenCode. AI…
read the full Ollama overview →
About LocalAI
Deutsch Español français 日本語 한국어 Português Русский 中文 LocalAI is the open source AI engine. Run any model LLMs, vision, voice, image, video on any hardware. No GPU required. A small core, not a bundle. Each backend wraps a best in class engine (llama.cpp, vLLM, whisper.cpp, stable diffusion, MLX...) in its own image, pulled only when a model needs it. You install nothing you don't use. Composable by design : backends are separate and pulled on demand, so you install only what your model needs Open and extensible : load any model, or build your own backend in any language against an open interface Drop in API…
read the full LocalAI overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ollama or LocalAI more popular?
Ollama has 185,702 GitHub stars and LocalAI has 50,140. Ollama has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ollama and LocalAI free?
Both are open source. Ollama is licensed under MIT and LocalAI under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ollama and LocalAI?
Ollama is written in Go and LocalAI in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Ollama or LocalAI?
Choose Ollama if you want the larger community (185,702 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose LocalAI if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.