What is LM Studio?
Find, download and run open models on Mac, Windows and Linux, with chat, MCP and an OpenAI-compatible local server.
Who is LM Studio best for?
LM Studio is best for developers and tinkerers who want to run open models offline, in a chat window or through a local API.
Running models offline
You find and download models inside the app, then chat with them, and with your own documents, without an internet connection.
Apple silicon Macs
On M-series Macs it runs MLX models as well as llama.cpp ones; it needs macOS 14 or newer, and 16GB of RAM is recommended.
Local models in your tools
A local server speaks OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible APIs, so apps and coding agents such as Codex or Claude Code can use your local models.
Servers and CI
llmster, the headless version, runs the same engine on a server or in a pipeline without the desktop app.
How much does LM Studio cost?
LM Studio is free for personal and work use and has no paid tier; the paid plans on lmstudio.ai are for LM Studio Bionic, a separate agent app with cloud models.
- Runs llama.cpp (GGUF) models, plus MLX on Apple silicon
- Chat with documents offline and use MCP servers
- Local server with OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible endpoints
The desktop app has no paid plan, and its terms allow personal and internal business use with no separate commercial license. It is not open source. The plans on lmstudio.ai/pricing (Free, Bionic+ at $20 a month and Pro at $100 a month) belong to LM Studio Bionic, the company's separate agent app with hosted cloud models. Full pricing on lmstudio.ai. We checked these prices on .
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What are the best LM Studio alternatives?
Three tools on Recaply do LM Studio's job. Ollama and Jan are open source, so you can run them on your own server.
Questions about LM Studio
What is LM Studio?
Find, download and run open models on Mac, Windows and Linux, with chat, MCP and an OpenAI-compatible local server.
Who is LM Studio for?
LM Studio is best for developers and tinkerers who want to run open models offline, in a chat window or through a local API.
Is LM Studio free?
Yes. LM Studio has a free LM Studio plan: runs llama.cpp (GGUF) models, plus MLX on Apple silicon.
Is there an open source alternative to LM Studio?
Yes. Ollama and Jan are open source tools that do the same job, so you can run your own.
What are the best LM Studio alternatives?
The closest alternatives on Recaply are Ollama, Jan and Msty.
Where can I try LM Studio?
On its official website, lmstudio.ai.
Is LM Studio the same as LM Studio Bionic?
No. LM Studio is the desktop app for downloading, chatting with and serving local models. Bionic is a separate agent app from the same maker, Element Labs, built on the LM Studio runtime with optional paid cloud models. LM Studio stays free, and you can use it alongside Bionic.
Can I use LM Studio at work?
Yes. LM Studio's terms allow personal and internal business use at no charge, so a team can install it at work without filling in a form or buying a commercial license.
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