Framework
LocalAI
LocalAI is an open-source AI framework, launched in 2023, made for developers and businesses.
A self-hosted engine that serves LLMs, speech, image and video models behind an OpenAI-compatible API.
Main jobs: LLM API, Model serving, Run models locally. It is open source and free to use. You can use it on your own server, offline on your own machine, through an API and in the terminal.
Markdown version of https://godooo.ai/en/framework/localai. Every page on this site has one: add .md to its address.
At a glance
- Type
- Framework
- Launched
- 2023
- Galaxy
- Models & APIs
- Open source
- Yes · MIT
- Source code
- github.com/mudler/LocalAI
- GitHub stars
- 49,253
- How you run it
- Self-host · Runs offline · API · Terminal
- Made for
- Developers · Businesses
- Protocols
- OpenAI-compatible API
- Website
- localai.io
What it can do
LLM APImain jobunconfirmed
“Drop-in API compatibility : OpenAI, Anthropic, and ElevenLabs APIs across every backend”— github.com, 2026-09-24
Model servingmain jobunconfirmed
“One binary with an OpenAI-compatible API in front of it.”— localai.io, 2026-09-24
Run models locallymain jobunconfirmed
“Run any model, LLMs, vision, voice, image and video, on any hardware. No GPU required.”— localai.io, 2026-09-24
Embeddingssupportedunconfirmed
“Embeddings generation”— github.com, 2026-09-24
Image understandingsupportedunconfirmed
“See things Ask for "the red mug on the left" in plain language and get back coordinates, not a caption.”— localai.io, 2026-09-24
Speech to textsupportedunconfirmed
“Hear words Live transcription with speaker labels and timestamps, fast enough to keep up with a meeting while it is still happening.”— localai.io, 2026-09-24
Text to imagesupportedunconfirmed
“Create Images, video, music and sound diffusers · ace-step”— localai.io, 2026-09-24
Text to speechsupportedunconfirmed
“Speak Speech synthesis and voice cloning moss-tts · piper”— localai.io, 2026-09-24
unconfirmedproposed by a machine, awaiting calibration
Alternatives
- OllamaOpen source, freeAlso does: Run models locally, LLM API, Model serving
- exoOpen source, freeAlso does: Model serving, Run models locally, LLM API
- MLC LLMOpen source, freeAlso does: Model serving, Run models locally, LLM API
- MistralOpen source, freeAlso does: LLM API, Embeddings, Run models locally
- WebLLMOpen source, freeAlso does: LLM API, Run models locally
- LMDeployOpen source, freeAlso does: LLM API, Model serving
- QwenOpen source, freeAlso does: LLM API, Image understanding, Run models locally; no code needed
- LLMOpen source, freeAlso does: LLM API, Embeddings, Run models locally
- ReplicatePaidAlso does: LLM API, Model serving, Text to image
- TextGenOpen source, freeAlso does: Run models locally, Image understanding, LLM API; no code needed
- GeminiAlso does: Image understanding, LLM API; no code needed
- GPTAlso does: LLM API, Image understanding, Text to image; no code needed
Connections
- Built with
- llama.cpp
Questions
What is LocalAI?
LocalAI is an open-source AI framework, launched in 2023, made for developers and businesses. A self-hosted engine that serves LLMs, speech, image and video models behind an OpenAI-compatible API.
Is LocalAI free?
Yes. LocalAI is open source (MIT) and free to use.
Is LocalAI open source?
Yes, under the MIT license. The source code is at https://github.com/mudler/LocalAI.
Can LocalAI run locally?
Yes. LocalAI can run offline on your own machine. It can also be self-hosted on your own server.
What can LocalAI do?
Main jobs: LLM API, Model serving, Run models locally. It can also do: Embeddings, Image understanding, Speech to text, Text to image, Text to speech.
What are open-source alternatives to LocalAI?
Open-source ones: Ollama, exo, MLC LLM, Mistral, WebLLM, LMDeploy, Qwen and LLM. Others: Replicate, Gemini and GPT.
Sources
- github.com/mudler/LocalAIchecked 2026-09-24
- localai.io/checked 2026-09-24