# Berth vs Jan

> Berth scores 67.6 (B) to Jan's 51.4 (D) for local inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-jan
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-jan.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-jan.min.md (~530 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-jan.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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-28

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.

- Berth: grade B, 67.6/100, rank #283 of 1218. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/berth.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/berth.json
- Jan: grade D, 51.4/100, rank #890 of 1218. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/jan.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/jan.json
- Best local AI models and assistants: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/local-ai/index.md
- All 229 local ai comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/local-ai/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Berth (B)

Good 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)

Good 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.

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


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Berth | Jan | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 76 | 68 | Berth +8 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 56 | Berth +13 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 46 | Berth +29 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 51 | 43 | Berth +8 |
| 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) | 76 | 47 | Berth +29 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 70 | Jan +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **67.6 · B** | **51.4 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Berth | Jan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | Platform |
| Vendor | Trevin Tindall (T-Crypt on GitHub) | Menlo Research |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0. The Berth name, the Pilot mascot and the artwork in assets/ are excluded from the licence, per the NOTICE file | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-23 | 2026-07-23 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2025-01-16 |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 245 stars | 45k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 2/5 (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).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Berth or Jan

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

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