Ollama
Ollama is an open source tool for downloading and running open-weight AI models on your own machine, with a simple command-line interface and local API. Running models locally is always free; a paid Pro plan and hosted cloud models are also available for people who want more power than their own hardware provides. It integrates with tools like VS Code and coding agents such as Claude Code.
Facts checked on against the sources listed at the end of this page.
- Pricing
- FreemiumPaid from $20 a month for the Pro plan, including $60 of usage credit for cloud models
- Open source
- YesMIT
- GitHub stars
- 182,407
- npm downloads a week
- 896kup 17% on the week before
- Latest release
- v0.35.11 week ago
- Releases in 90 days
- 5about 2 a month
A good fit for
- Developers who want to run open-weight AI models on their own hardware for free
- Privacy-sensitive workloads where data shouldn't leave the local machine
- Prototyping with different open models before choosing one to deploy
- Teams that want a local model as a fallback or complement to a hosted API
Not a good fit for
- Users without hardware capable of running larger models at reasonable speed, though smaller models still run on modest machines
- Teams that need a fully managed, always-on hosted API rather than software they run themselves
- Workloads needing the absolute largest frontier models, which are typically proprietary and not distributed as downloadable weights
Ollama pricing
Running models locally is always free. Cloud models are pay-as-you-go, and a Pro plan at $20 a month includes $60 of usage credit for cloud models.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Local (free) | $0 | Run any supported open model on your own hardware, no account required. |
| Pro | $20 a month | $60 of usage credit for hosted cloud models, plus pay-as-you-go beyond that. |
Prices in USD, checked on 27 September 2026. Current prices on ollama.com.
Main features
- One-command model downloads
- Pull and run open-weight models from the command line without manual setup.
- Local API server
- Exposes a local REST API so other applications can call the running model.
- Editor and agent integrations
- Works with tools like VS Code and coding agents including Claude Code.
- Cloud models
- Optional hosted models in the US, Europe and Singapore for when local hardware isn't enough.
- Data privacy by default
- Local models process data on your own machine rather than sending it to a cloud service.
- Open source
- Ollama's own code is open source and open weight under the MIT license.
About Ollama
Ollama packages open-weight language models so they can be downloaded and run on a local machine with one command, handling model weights, quantization and a local API server so other tools can talk to the model without a cloud connection.
It supports a wide range of open models and integrates with editors and agent tools such as VS Code, Claude Code and workflow automation tools like n8n, letting developers point existing tooling at a local model instead of a hosted API.
For people who want more compute than their own machine has, Ollama also offers hosted cloud models with pay-as-you-go pricing and a Pro plan that bundles a monthly usage credit, while local use remains free and open source.
- Made by
- Ollama
- Free plan
- Yes, running models locally is always free
- Available on
- macOS, Windows, Linux, REST API, Docker
Usage and activity
Weekly npm downloads of ollama, last 12 months.
Recent releases
- v0.35.11 week ago
- v0.35.1-rc0Pre-release, 1 week ago
- v0.35.0Pre-release, 1 week ago
- v0.40.01 week ago
- v0.40.0-rc0Pre-release, 1 week ago
- v0.40.0-rc3Pre-release, 1 week ago
Ollama alternatives
Ollama compared
OllamavsLM Studio
Ollama is an open source, command-line-first tool for downloading and running open-weight AI models on your own machine, with a local API and optional paid cloud models.
OllamavsOpenAI
Ollama is an open source tool that downloads and runs open-weight AI models on your own machine, free of charge, with an optional paid plan for hosted cloud models.
Questions about Ollama
Is Ollama free?
Yes, running models locally on your own machine is always free. A $20 a month Pro plan and pay-as-you-go cloud models are optional for extra hosted compute.
Is Ollama open source?
Yes, Ollama is open source under the MIT license.
What platforms does Ollama support?
macOS, Windows and Linux, plus a Docker image and a local REST API for integrating with other tools.
Can Ollama run in the cloud instead of locally?
Yes, Ollama offers hosted cloud models in the US, Europe and Singapore as a paid option alongside free local execution.
Sources and links
Work on Ollama? Claim this listing. Something wrong or out of date? Suggest a correction. Stats come from the public GitHub and npm APIs and update every day.