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Jan

An open-source chat app that runs AI models fully offline on your computer.

Instead of ChatGPT

S · ToolOpen sourceFreeWorks offlineRuns locally
jan.ai
Screenshot of the Jan website

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Plenty of people would like a chat window with an AI and would rather their drafts did not travel. Jan describes itself as an open-source ChatGPT alternative that runs 100% offline, and it runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. It is Apache 2.0 licensed, downloads models such as Llama, Gemma and Qwen from Hugging Face, runs them on your machine and offers a local server compatible with OpenAI's. It can also connect to cloud models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral and others if you choose.

Jan scores a 5 on lock-in and longevity, a 4 on self-direction and power and a 3 on footprint and delivery.

Local models are smaller than the largest hosted ones, so expect some difference in quality, and the better models need a good computer. Its page says little about who runs the project.

It makes an easy first step for someone who wants a ChatGPT-style window without sending text to a company.

    What stands out

  • A ChatGPT-style window that runs fully offline
  • Apache 2.0, with models such as Llama, Gemma and Qwen
  • Can also connect to cloud models if you choose
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For comparison, we also reviewed ChatGPT (14/30) and Claude (15/30) as a benchmark.

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