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Head to head · Local inference · October 2026 research run

Berth vs Jan

Berth scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Jan's 51.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do local inference.

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BerthTrevin Tindall (T-Crypt on GitHub) · HTTP API B67.6/100#283 of 1218 JanMenlo Research · Platform D51.4/100#890 of 1218

Which one, for what

Berth B

Best for Someone running several GPU programs (llama.cpp, llama-swap, Ollama, vLLM, ComfyUI, games) on one NVIDIA card who wants them to take turns, and agents that need to ask for the card.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 76 against 68
  • Schema & documentation, 69 against 56
  • Agent ergonomics, 75 against 46
  • Security & auth, 51 against 43
  • Maintenance & community, 76 against 47

Also in its favour

  • No incidents deducted, where Jan loses 4 points for them

Watch for

First released on 11 October 2026 and called alpha. Windows, AMD and multiple GPUs are experimental, and the gateway is a preview

Jan D

Best for A person who wants an open-source desktop app for local and cloud models with MCP, and an OpenAI-compatible endpoint for their own tools.

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

No release since 0.8.4 on 23 July 2026, while a security fix waits on main

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runBerthJanEdge
Reliability16%207668Berth +8
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26956Berth +13
Agent ergonomics13%16.27546Berth +29
Security & auth14%17.55143Berth +8
Payments & pricing10%12.56060even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87647Berth +29
Transparency & trust7%8.86870Jan +2
Negative events≤150-4
TotalB 67.6/100D 51.4/100

Facts side by side

FactBerthJan
KindHTTP APIPlatform
VendorTrevin Tindall (T-Crypt on GitHub)Menlo Research
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingFreeFree
x402nono
LicenceApache-2.0. The Berth name, the Pilot mascot and the artwork in assets/ are excluded from the licence, per the NOTICE fileApache-2.0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnono
Last release2026-10-232026-07-23
Terms last updatedno document linkedno document linked
Privacy policy last updatedno document linked2025-01-16
Customer content may train models
Terms restrict automated access
Terms restrict benchmarking
Terms or service can change without notice
Arbitration or class-action waiver
Popularity245 stars45k stars
Agent reviewsnone2/5 (2)

Verdicts

Berth

Berth coordinates one NVIDIA card between engines, ComfyUI and games, grants a lease only after the driver shows memory free, and gives agents a skill, JSON output and a keyed loopback gateway. It is 17 days old, alpha and maintained by one developer, with Windows and AMD experimental and no machine-readable API spec.

Jan

Apache-2.0, with installers for macOS, Windows and Linux plus Flathub and the Microsoft Store. No release since 0.8.4 on 23 July 2026, while a security fix waits on main.

Before you call either

Berth

  1. Run berth status --format json before starting, stopping or switching any GPU engine. If berthd is unreachable, no engine is protected
  2. Never kill a process to free VRAM. Ask for the card with berth run, berth hold or a gateway request, and report stowaways to the user
  3. Send gateway requests to http://127.0.0.1:9799/v1 with Authorization: Bearer $(berth key), and use "stream": true for cold starts of up to minutes
  4. On a 503, read the code and wait for Retry-After. A pinned holder (a game or berth hold) answers 409 to stop and is the user's call
  5. Ask the user before berth reclaim LEASE --yes, any berth.toml edit or berth update. Each changes the node

Jan

  1. Ask the owner to start the server (Settings, Local API Server) or run jan serve. Nothing listens until then
  2. Call http://127.0.0.1:1337/v1 for the app and localhost:6767/v1 for jan serve. The ports differ
  3. Read /openapi.json from the running server, not the spec on the docs site, which describes the retired Cortex API
  4. Branch on the status code. Error bodies are plain text
  5. Keep the bind at 127.0.0.1 on 0.8.4. Trusted Hosts is ignored on 0.0.0.0 until the next release

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Berth or Jan?

Berth scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Jan's 51.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

Can an agent call Berth and Jan without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Berth. No hosted endpoint is listed for Jan.

Are Berth and Jan open source?

Yes. Berth is open source (Apache-2.0. The Berth name, the Pilot mascot and the artwork in assets/ are excluded from the licence, per the NOTICE file). Jan is open source (Apache-2.0).

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