LM Studio vs Ollama
Ollama is open source and LM Studio is not.
Which one should you try?
LM Studio
FreeBest for People who want a desktop app for downloading and chatting with local models
Ollama
FreeBest for Developers who want a local model API without managing model files by hand
We installed and ran both
| Measured | LM Studio | Ollama |
|---|---|---|
| Model load time from the runtime's own log, model file not cached (s) | 8.1 | 5.9 |
| Start-up, not the same measurement: Ollama = first answer from a fresh server; LM Studio = lms load command (s) | 44.6 | 6.7 |
| Text generation speed, 53-token prompt, relative | 1x | 1.38x |
| Text generation speed, 441-token prompt, relative | 1x | 1.22x |
| Text generation speed, 723-token prompt, relative | 1x | 1x |
| Prompt reading speed, 53-token prompt, relative | 1x | 1.32x |
| Prompt reading speed, 441-token prompt, relative | 1x | 1.77x |
| Prompt reading speed, 723-token prompt, relative | 1x | 1.58x |
| Memory used by the model process (GB) | 2 | 2.2 |
| Docker image size on disk (GB) | 4.68 | 9.37 |
Same GGUF model file, same 3 cores, measured back to back in one session. Speed is shown for each of our three prompt lengths: Ollama's lead in generation speed shrinks as the prompt gets longer. The two start-up rows are different measurements: Ollama's is the first 1-token answer from a freshly started server (the model loads on that request); LM Studio's is the lms load command, most of which passed before its engine started loading the model.
Test machine: 8-vCPU AMD EPYC 9354P cloud VM, each test limited to 3 cores and 10 GB RAM, no GPU, no internet (isolated Docker network). Times in seconds are from this CPU-only machine; a desktop with a GPU will be much faster. The VM is shared, so text-generation speed is shown only as a ratio between tools run back to back, not as tokens per second. Docker image size is the on-disk size from docker image ls for every tool. Local AI tools we tested · How we test · raw data
Pricing, capabilities and platforms side by side. Prices are as of the "Pricing checked" date in the table.
LM Studio
LM Studio is a free desktop app for local models with a headless server (llmster), local APIs and SDKs. We ran llmster on a CPU-only server and measured install, load time and offline behavior.
Ollama
Ollama downloads open models and runs them locally behind a command line and API, with optional cloud-hosted models. We ran it on a 3-core CPU server and measured startup, memory and speed.
| Attribute | LM Studio | Ollama |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Price | Free to run models locally; optional cloud plans: Bionic+ $20/mo, Pro $100/mo | Free (MIT). Optional Ollama Cloud from $20/mo |
| Pricing checked | Oct 16, 2026 | Apr 10, 2026 |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Has API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted option | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms | macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows, Linux (x64 and ARM64) | macOS, Windows, Linux, Docker |
| Released | 2023-05 | 2023-06 |
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Made up your mind?
LM Studio
FreeBest for People who want a desktop app for downloading and chatting with local models
Ollama
FreeBest for Developers who want a local model API without managing model files by hand
Specs come from each tool's own site and docs (how we test). AIDiveForge is editorially independent.