LM Studio

Desktop app for running local LLMs with a chat UI and API

AI Models & PlatformsFree planOverseas★★★★☆ 4.0

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What is LM Studio?

LM Studio is a desktop application for downloading and running open-weight language models on your own machine. It provides a model browser backed by Hugging Face, a chat interface, and a local server that mimics the OpenAI API so existing code can point at localhost. The pitch is privacy and offline use: prompts and documents never leave the computer. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, uses whatever GPU or Apple Silicon hardware is present, and works without a cloud account, which is the practical difference from hosted chat tools.

Last updated: 2026-09-20. This site only provides an index; for exact features, pricing, and licensing, see the official website.

Key features

Built-in model browser with search over Hugging Face checkpoints
Chat interface with presets, folders and conversation history
Local OpenAI-compatible server on a configurable port
GPU offload, quantisation and context length controls
Supports GGUF models including vision and embedding models
Document chat over files attached to a conversation

Pros & cons

Strengths

Runs entirely on your machine, so prompts stay private
Free for personal use with no account required
Familiar OpenAI API shape means little code change

Watch out for

Output quality depends heavily on your local hardware
Larger models need substantial VRAM to run usefully
Commercial use of the desktop app needs a paid licence

Best for & use cases

private chat, offline llms, local prototyping, embedded model testing

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FAQ

Does LM Studio send my data anywhere?

No. Models run locally on your machine, and conversations stay on disk. The app does contact Hugging Face when you search for and download models, but your prompts and documents are not uploaded.

What hardware do I need?

A modern GPU with 8GB or more VRAM, or an Apple Silicon Mac with 16GB or more unified memory, handles small models well. Larger models need proportionally more memory and run slowly on CPU only.

Can I use it commercially for free?

The desktop application is free for personal use. Commercial use of the app itself requires a paid licence, though the models you download carry their own separate licences you should also check.