Shortlist by what you need
Start here if you know why you are leaving LM Studio.
Want the closest match?
OrkasMost similar to LM Studio in what it does, its category and its price.
Visit (opens Orkas in a new tab)Need a free plan?
OllamaHas a free plan, rated 4.6 out of 5.
Visit (opens Ollama in a new tab)Want the lowest price?
puppyoneFrom $19/mo, the lowest starting price here.
Visit (opens puppyone in a new tab)Want the best rated?
GroqRated 4.3 out of 5 in our review, against 4.4 for LM Studio.
Visit (opens Groq in a new tab)
At a glance
Green means better than LM Studio, red means worse. Prices are starting prices per month.
| Tool | Our rating | Starts at | Free plan | Best for | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 LM StudioBaseline | 4.4 | Free | Yes | Runs open models locally on your own machine, with an agent for documents and code. | |
| Orkas | 3.7−0.7 | $11.99/mo | Yes | Open-source, local-first desktop app where a team of specialist AI agents takes a chat brief and delivers research, documents, slides, videos and websites. | vs LM Studio |
| Ollama | 4.6+0.2 | Free | Yes | The simplest way to run open models locally, with optional cloud scaling. | vs LM Studio |
 LlamaChat | 3.2−1.2 | Free | Yes | Run LLaMA, Alpaca, and GPT4All locally on your Mac - no cloud, no data leaving your machine, 100% free and fully open-source. | vs LM Studio |
| puppyone | 3.8−0.6 | $19/mo | Yes | Local-first file workspace for AI agents that tracks every edit in Git and can publish the same workspace to the cloud for teammates, MCP and API access. | vs LM Studio |
 MimicPC | 4.1−0.3 | Free | Yes | Runs open-source AI apps like ComfyUI in the browser, with no local install or GPU. | vs LM Studio |
 Avian.io | 3.9−0.5 | Not listed | No | A pay-per-token inference API runs frontier open-source LLMs at lower cost than most closed-model providers. | vs LM Studio |
| Groq | 4.3−0.1 | Free | Yes | Custom LPU chips built by a former Google TPU architect for near-instant AI inference | vs LM Studio |
 Mirai | 4.0−0.4 | Not listed | No | Runtime, model conversion and tooling for running AI models on-device. | vs LM Studio |
The alternatives in detail
In order of how closely each one matches LM Studio.
Orkas
3.7$11.99/mo
vs LM Studio−0.7
Open-source, local-first desktop app where a team of specialist AI agents takes a chat brief and delivers research, documents, slides, videos and websites.
- Commander agent that assigns work to specialist agents
- Agents for research, documents, slides, images, video and web design
- Open source and local-first on Mac and Windows
Source code is public on GitHub
Plan prices on the page are shown as discounts from higher list prices
Ollama
4.6Free
vs LM Studio+0.2
The simplest way to run open models locally, with optional cloud scaling.
- Run open models locally with a single command
- Data stays on your own machine, with no external logging
- No per-token cost and full offline operation
Removed essentially all setup friction for local models
Model quality is capped by your local hardware
LlamaChat
3.2Free
vs LM Studio−1.2
Run LLaMA, Alpaca, and GPT4All locally on your Mac - no cloud, no data leaving your machine, 100% free and fully open-source.
- Local LLM inference on Mac, no cloud dependency
- Supports LLaMA, Alpaca, and GPT4All model architectures
- Built-in model conversion for PyTorch and .ggml formats
Complete data privacy - nothing leaves the device
Mac-only - no Windows or Linux support
puppyone
3.8$19/mo
vs LM Studio−0.6
Local-first file workspace for AI agents that tracks every edit in Git and can publish the same workspace to the cloud for teammates, MCP and API access.
- Local-first workspace with built-in Git history
- Review diffs and restore versions of files edited by agents
- Cloud hosting for cross-device and team access
Free plan with no time limit
Free plan is limited to one member, one project and 2 GB
MimicPC
4.1Free
vs LM Studio−0.3
Runs open-source AI apps like ComfyUI in the browser, with no local install or GPU.
- Prebuilt library of open-source AI apps including ComfyUI
- LoRA model training without local deployment
- Custom model uploads on top of the hosted apps
Removes the hardest part of open-source AI, the local setup
Rented sessions get expensive under heavy continuous use
Avian.io
3.9Not listed
vs LM Studio−0.5
A pay-per-token inference API runs frontier open-source LLMs at lower cost than most closed-model providers.
- OpenAI-compatible API for open-source frontier models (DeepSeek, Kimi, GLM, MiniMax)
- Pay-per-token billing with no subscription or minimum monthly commitment
- Infrastructure hosting removes the need to self-manage GPU deployment for these models
OpenAI-compatible API means minimal code changes for teams already using that interface pattern
No free tier, every API call consumes paid credit from the first request
Groq
4.3Free
vs LM Studio−0.1
Custom LPU chips built by a former Google TPU architect for near-instant AI inference.
- Custom LPU chips designed specifically for large language model inference
- GroqCloud free developer tier alongside usage-based production pricing
- Consistently ranks among the fastest publicly benchmarked inference speeds
Free developer tier makes it easy to benchmark speed before committing to production traffic
Model selection is narrower than general-purpose inference providers running any open weight
Mirai
4.0Not listed
vs LM Studio−0.4
Runtime, model conversion and tooling for running AI models on-device.
- On-device inference engine
- Model conversion tooling
- macOS application
Ships conversion tooling, not just a runtime
Pricing page returns a 404
FAQ
Questions people ask
Is LM Studio free?
LM Studio has a free plan.
What is the best free alternative to LM Studio?
Ollama is the highest-rated alternative here with a free plan (4.6 out of 5). Other free options: Groq, MimicPC, puppyone.
What is the cheapest alternative to LM Studio?
Among paid plans, Orkas has the lowest starting price (from $11.99/mo). If you need it free, start with Ollama.
How did you pick these alternatives?
We match tools on what they do, their category and their price, using the details in our directory. Ratings come from our reviews and reader reviews.