Jan is an open-source, local-first alternative to ChatGPT that runs large language models completely offline on your computer. Supporting hardware acceleration for Apple Silicon, Nvidia GPUs, and CPUs, Jan ensures complete data privacy by storing all chats, model weights, and embeddings locally on your device.
Jan AI
Open-source, 100% offline local AI assistant running models on your computer.
Best for: Privacy-conscious professionals, engineers, and creators running LLMs locally without cloud leaks
- Free plan
Entry plan
Free Forever (Open Source)
Opens the official website in a new tab.
The editorial note
What to know about Jan AI
Is it right for you?
Who Jan AI suits
Choose it if
- Privacy-conscious professionals, engineers, and creators running LLMs locally without cloud leaks
Look elsewhere if
- Users on low-spec hardware without dedicated GPU or sufficient RAM (minimum 8-16 GB)
What you get
Key features
- Local model hub (GGUF format support)
- Local API server compatible with OpenAI SDKs
- Hardware acceleration (CUDA, Metal, Vulkan)
- System prompt customization and model parameters
- Local conversation history and search
- Cross-platform support (macOS, Windows, Linux)
Works with
Integrations5
What it costs
Pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Open Source Community | Free Forever (Open Source)Billed one-time | 100% free and open-source under AGPLv3, unlimited local chats, local OpenAI API server |
Prices are recorded from the vendor's public pricing page and can change. Check before you buy.
The trade-off
Pros and cons
Pros
- 100% offline and private — no data ever leaves your computer
- Native GUI with one-click downloads for Llama 3, Mistral, Gemma, and DeepSeek
- Local OpenAI-compatible API server running on localhost:1337
Cons
- Performance depends entirely on your local GPU/RAM hardware specifications
- Lacks native multimodal image generation out of the box
Quick read
At a glance
- Category
- AI Tools
- Pricing model
- Free
- Entry plan
- Free Forever (Open Source)
- Free plan
- Available
- Free trial
- Not listed
- Website
- jan.ai
The verdict
Our take on Jan AI
Jan is the friendliest and most capable desktop application for running private local AI models with zero subscriptions.
Keep exploring
More from AI Tools
Ollama
AI Tools
Lightweight tool to get up and running with large language models locally.
Best for: Software engineers, DevOps teams, and AI developers building local…
- Free plan

Anthropic API
AI Tools
Claude API for building AI-powered applications.
Best for: Developers and enterprises building AI applications who need the…
- Free trial
Cursor
AI Tools
The AI-first code editor for full-stack developers.
Best for: Full-stack developers wanting the most powerful AI pair programmer…
- Free plan