# Berth vs LM Studio

> Berth scores 67.6 (B) to LM Studio's 57.9 (C) for local inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-lm-studio
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-lm-studio.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-lm-studio.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-lm-studio.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 LM Studio's 57.9 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. LM Studio leads on security & auth. 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
- LM Studio: grade C, 57.9/100, rank #683 of 1218. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lm-studio.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lm-studio.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 34
- Schema & documentation, 69 against 64
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 69
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 61

Also in its favour:
- Open source

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

### LM Studio (C)

Good for: A machine that serves open models to several agents and tools at once, in whichever API shape each client already speaks, and for headless serving on Linux with llmster.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 59 against 51

Watch for: Authentication is off by default, so any local process can call the server


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Berth | LM Studio | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 76 | 34 | Berth +42 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 64 | Berth +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 69 | Berth +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 51 | 59 | LM Studio +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 | 72 | Berth +4 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 61 | Berth +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **67.6 · B** | **57.9 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Berth | LM Studio |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Trevin Tindall (T-Crypt on GitHub) | Element Labs, Inc. |
| 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 | Proprietary. The app and llmster are free for personal and internal business use under LM Studio's terms (Element Labs, Inc., effective 23 August 2026), with no source published. The `lms` CLI and the TypeScript and Python SDKs are MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-23 | 2026-09-19 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-06-01 |
| 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 | 245 stars | 69k npm/wk, 15k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (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.

**LM Studio.** OpenAI-compatible chat completions, responses, completions and embeddings, Anthropic-compatible /v1/messages and a native /api/v1, all on one port. Authentication is off by default, so any local process can call the server.

## 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

### LM Studio

1. Send `Authorization: Bearer $LM_API_TOKEN` when the owner gives you a token. With Require Authentication on, every request needs it
2. Pass `previous_response_id` to /api/v1/chat instead of resending the history, and `store: false` for one-off calls
3. List models with `GET /api/v1/models` before naming one. A named model that's downloaded loads just in time
4. Install the Python SDK pre-release (1.6.0b1) and pass `api_token` directly. It reads `LMSTUDIO_API_TOKEN`, not the `LM_API_TOKEN` the docs name
5. Set `allowed_tools` on every MCP integration. Without it the model sees every tool on the server

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Berth or LM Studio?

Berth scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against LM Studio's 57.9 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. LM Studio leads on security & auth.

### Do Berth and LM Studio need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Berth and LM Studio without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Berth. No hosted endpoint is listed for LM Studio.

### Are Berth and LM Studio open source?

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). No open-source release is listed for LM Studio.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Berth or LM Studio

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

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