Term
LM Studio
LM Studio is a desktop application for running LLMs locally with a graphical interface — including a model browser, chat interface and OpenAI-compatible server.
LM Studio — explained in more detail
LM Studio is a desktop app that pursues the same goal as Ollama — running LLMs locally — but takes the graphical-interface path rather than the command line.
Main components
Three areas define the app: a model browser that searches Hugging Face directly and downloads models with their quantisation; a chat interface for multi-turn conversation with prompt configuration; and a local API server that also mimics the OpenAI interface, which feeds tools like Continue.dev or custom scripts.
Comparison with Ollama
There is a lot of functional overlap — both use llama.cpp under the hood, both provide an API server. The difference is the operating concept: Ollama is CLI-centric and fits into scripts, LM Studio is GUI-centric and a better match for individual users without terminal experience.
Availability
LM Studio runs on macOS, Windows and Linux. The software is free to use but not open source — that sets it apart from Ollama, whose code lives publicly on GitHub.
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