# AnythingLLM vs Foundry Local

> Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against AnythingLLM's 53.3 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do local inference. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-foundry-local
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-foundry-local.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-foundry-local.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-foundry-local.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against AnythingLLM's 53.3 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do local inference.

- AnythingLLM: grade D, 53.3/100, rank #631 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/anythingllm.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/anythingllm.json
- Foundry Local: grade C, 60.5/100, rank #461 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/foundry-local.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/foundry-local.json

## Which one, for what

### AnythingLLM (D)

Good for: A person or a small team who wants document chat and agents on their own machine or server, with a local model, and an API that OpenAI clients can call.

Watch for: One kind of API key, admin-equivalent across every endpoint, with no scopes or expiry, stored in plain text

### Foundry Local (C)

Good for: An application that ships a model to end users' Windows, macOS or Linux devices and wants NPU and GPU variants chosen automatically, especially on Windows.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 61 against 46
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 78
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 59

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Free to start without a card
- No incidents deducted, where AnythingLLM loses 3 points for them

Watch for: The local server takes no credential, and its routes include model load and unload and `POST /shutdown`


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | AnythingLLM | Foundry Local | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 67 | 68 | Foundry Local +1 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 57 | 53 | AnythingLLM +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 46 | 61 | Foundry Local +15 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 38 | 39 | Foundry Local +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 88 | Foundry Local +10 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 59 | 72 | Foundry Local +13 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **53.3 · D** | **60.5 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | AnythingLLM | Foundry Local |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model platform | SDK + MCP |
| Vendor | Mintplex Labs | Microsoft |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT (server, document collector, frontend and Docker image). The desktop app ships under Mintplex Labs' own terms of use, which call its source code a trade secret and forbid reverse engineering | MIT for the SDKs and the v2 native runtime. The CLI is closed source under Microsoft Software Licence Terms. Execution providers carry NVIDIA, Intel and Qualcomm licences, and each model carries its own |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-09-29 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |
| Popularity | 67k stars | 2.6k stars, 105k npm/wk, 47k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**AnythingLLM.** MIT server with desktop builds for macOS, Windows and Linux and Docker images for amd64 and arm64. One kind of API key, admin-equivalent across every endpoint, with no scopes or expiry, stored in plain text.

**Foundry Local.** The SDK and its native runtime are MIT, at 2.1.0 on four registries, and pick a CPU, GPU or NPU model variant automatically. The optional local server has no credential, its current routes aren't in the published REST reference, and telemetry is on by default with an opt-out.

## Before you call either

### AnythingLLM

1. Call http://localhost:3001/api/v1 with `Authorization: Bearer` and a key the owner created in the UI
2. Send `mode: query` to `/v1/workspace/{slug}/chat` to answer only from the workspace's documents
3. Treat the key as admin. It can delete workspaces, users and documents
4. Read /api/docs on the instance for the endpoint list. Request bodies there are examples, not schemas
5. Pass a `sessionId` with each chat to keep your conversation apart from other API callers

### Foundry Local

1. Read the server URL from `manager.urls[0]` or `foundry server status`. The port is dynamic unless the owner sets `web.urls` or `foundry server start --port`
2. Send the model ID that `GET /v1/models` returns, not the alias. The alias resolves to a hardware-specific variant
3. Check `supportsToolCalling` before sending tools. Support differs by variant, and issue #1183 reports Qwen tool calling failing on QNN
4. Set your own request timeout. Inference has no built-in one, and cancellation takes effect only after the current generation step
5. Ask the owner to set `ORT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1` or `disableNonessentialTelemetry` before the manager is created if telemetry must be off

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, AnythingLLM or Foundry Local?

Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against AnythingLLM's 53.3 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

### Are AnythingLLM and Foundry Local open source?

Yes. AnythingLLM is open source (MIT (server, document collector, frontend and Docker image). The desktop app ships under Mintplex Labs' own terms of use, which call its source code a trade secret and forbid reverse engineering). Foundry Local is open source (MIT for the SDKs and the v2 native runtime. The CLI is closed source under Microsoft Software Licence Terms. Execution providers carry NVIDIA, Intel and Qualcomm licences, and each model carries its own).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-foundry-local.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-foundry-local.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "anythingllm", "b": "foundry-local"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare anythingllm foundry-local`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/anythingllm.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/foundry-local.json

## Other comparisons with AnythingLLM or Foundry Local

- [AnythingLLM vs Docker Model Runner](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-docker-model-runner.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs Core](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-ghost-core.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs GPT4All](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-gpt4all.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs Jan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-jan.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-khoj.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs Lemonade](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-lemonade.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-llama-cpp.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs LM Studio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-lm-studio.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-localai.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-mlx-lm.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-ollama.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-open-webui.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-screenpipe.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
- [Docker Model Runner vs Foundry Local](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-foundry-local.md)
- [Foundry Local vs Core](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ghost-core.md)
- [Foundry Local vs GPT4All](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-gpt4all.md)
- [Foundry Local vs Jan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-jan.md)
- [Foundry Local vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-khoj.md)
- [Foundry Local vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-koboldcpp.md)
- [Foundry Local vs Lemonade](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-lemonade.md)
- [Foundry Local vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-llama-cpp.md)
- [Foundry Local vs LM Studio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-lm-studio.md)
- [Foundry Local vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-localai.md)
- [Foundry Local vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm.md)
- [Foundry Local vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ollama.md)
- [Foundry Local vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-open-webui.md)
- [Foundry Local vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-screenpipe.md)
- [Foundry Local vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-underdog.md)
- [Foundry Local vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-underdog.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs LocalGhost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-localghost.md)