The best apps to run LLMs on a Mac.

1At a glance

2Each one in a few lines

MLX Harness

A free, open-source Mac app for chat, coding agents with built-in tools, image generation and a local API that speaks the OpenAI, Anthropic and Ollama formats. It runs models with Apple's MLX and downloads them from Hugging Face; it doesn't run GGUF files. It needs macOS 14.5 or later on Apple Silicon. It's ours, built on vMLX by JANGQ AI, and it carries MLX Node, which can put the Mac to work for MLX Network while you're away (source). Guide: how to use MLX Harness.

LM Studio

A polished app that runs both MLX and GGUF models side by side, with a model search built on Hugging Face (LM Studio). It is free to use at home and at work since July 2025 (LM Studio). Its command line tool, SDKs and MLX engine are MIT-licensed; the desktop app's source isn't published (GitHub). It needs macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon, and recommends 16 GB of memory (requirements). Its local server speaks the OpenAI format and, since version 0.4.1, the Anthropic format (changelog).

Ollama

The one-command way to run a model, with its own model library and, since July 2025, a chat app on the Mac (Ollama). It's MIT-licensed and runs GGUF models through llama.cpp (GitHub). Since March 2026 it has an MLX engine in preview on Apple Silicon, for Macs with more than 32 GB of memory and a growing list of models (Ollama). It needs macOS 14 or later (docs), and its API on port 11434 is what many other apps expect.

Jan

An open-source (Apache 2.0) chat app for Mac, Windows and Linux, with a bundled llama.cpp engine, native MLX support since February 2026, MCP tools, and an OpenAI-compatible server (GitHub, changelog). It can also connect to cloud models, if you want one app for both.

llama.cpp

The engine underneath much of local AI: MIT-licensed C/C++, with Apple Silicon as a "first-class citizen" through Metal (GitHub). Install it with brew install llama.cpp; llama-server gives you a web chat and an OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible API (server docs). It runs GGUF files, the most widely published format.

mlx-lm

Apple's own MLX tools for language models, MIT-licensed: generate, chat, convert and quantize models, and fine-tune them with LoRA, from the command line (GitHub). mlx_lm.server gives a basic OpenAI-style endpoint that its authors don't recommend for production (server docs). Thousands of converted models are in the mlx-community organization on Hugging Face.

3Which one to pick

• You want an app, open source, made for Apple Silicon: MLX Harness.
• You want MLX and GGUF models in one polished app, and don't mind closed source: LM Studio.
• Another app or coding agent expects the Ollama API: Ollama (MLX Harness also serves Ollama-style endpoints).
• You want one chat app across Mac, Windows and Linux, local and cloud: Jan.
• You script, build servers or need a particular GGUF quantization: llama.cpp.
• You fine-tune, convert models or want Apple's reference implementation: mlx-lm.

Many people use two: an app for everyday chat and a command line tool for scripts. They can share the same Mac, but each keeps its own copy of the model files.

4First, check what your Mac can hold

No app changes the arithmetic: a model and its context have to fit in the share of unified memory macOS lets the GPU use, about 75% by default, and memory bandwidth sets how fast it writes. MLX and GGUF files of the same model at the same precision are about the same size.

See every model that fits your Mac, the best models for each memory size, or start from a model to see which Mac it needs.

5When the Mac is idle

A Mac that runs local AI well is also good at running it for others. MLX Node runs AI jobs for MLX Network when you're not using your Mac, within the limits you set, and earns MLX Tokens for verified work. MLX Harness includes it. MLX Tokens can lose value; read the risks.

6Questions

Is LM Studio free for work?

Yes. Since July 2025 LM Studio is free to use both at home and at work; paid plans are for teams and enterprises (LM Studio).

Does Ollama use MLX on a Mac?

In preview since March 2026, on Apple Silicon Macs with more than 32 GB of memory, for supported models. Otherwise it runs GGUF models through llama.cpp (Ollama).

Which app runs both MLX and GGUF models?

LM Studio and Jan run both; Ollama runs GGUF and, in preview, MLX. MLX Harness and mlx-lm run MLX only; llama.cpp runs GGUF only.

Which local LLM apps are open source?

MLX Harness (Apache 2.0), Ollama (MIT), Jan (Apache 2.0), llama.cpp (MIT) and mlx-lm (MIT). LM Studio publishes its command line tool, SDKs and MLX engine under MIT, but not the desktop app.