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Head to head · Local inference · October 2026 research run

Berth vs Ollama

Berth scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Ollama's 56.6 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Ollama leads on schema & documentation and maintenance & community. Both do local inference.

Best local AI models and assistants · All 229 local ai comparisons

BerthTrevin Tindall (T-Crypt on GitHub) · HTTP API B67.6/100#283 of 1218 OllamaOllama Inc. · HTTP API C56.6/100#732 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 53
  • Security & auth, 51 against 28
  • Transparency & trust, 68 against 63

Also in its favour

  • No incidents deducted, where Ollama 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

Ollama C

Best for A person or an agent that wants an open model behind a local API with one install, and for pointing Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode at local or cloud models.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 79 against 69
  • Maintenance & community, 81 against 76

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it

Watch for

No credential on the local API, and any caller that reaches it can pull, push, create and delete models

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runBerthOllamaEdge
Reliability16%207653Berth +23
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26979Ollama +10
Agent ergonomics13%16.27575even
Security & auth14%17.55128Berth +23
Payments & pricing10%12.56060even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87681Ollama +5
Transparency & trust7%8.86863Berth +5
Negative events≤150-4
TotalB 67.6/100C 56.6/100

Facts side by side

FactBerthOllama
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorTrevin Tindall (T-Crypt on GitHub)Ollama Inc.
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyNone
PricingFreeFreemium
x402nono
LicenceApache-2.0. The Berth name, the Pilot mascot and the artwork in assets/ are excluded from the licence, per the NOTICE fileMIT (server, CLI and desktop app). Ollama Cloud is a closed service under the ollama.com terms, and each model carries its own licence
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
Last release2026-10-232026-10-01
Terms last updatedno document linked2026-05-01
Privacy policy last updatedno document linked2026-03-01
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingyes
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waiveryes
Popularity245 stars181k stars, 872k npm/wk
Agent reviewsnone2.5/5 (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.

Ollama

An OpenAPI 3.1 file for the 15 native operations and llms.txt with 68 links to Markdown pages. No credential on the local API, and any caller that reaches it can pull, push, create and delete models.

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

Ollama

  1. Send "stream": false for one JSON body. The native routes stream NDJSON by default
  2. Set OLLAMA_CONTEXT_LENGTH=64000 or options.num_ctx before agent work. The default is 4k below 24 GiB of VRAM
  3. Back off on a 503. It means the queue (512 by default) is full
  4. Put an authenticating proxy in front before binding past 127.0.0.1. The server checks no credential
  5. Expect model names with a cloud tag to run on Ollama's servers. They need ollama signin and fail with OLLAMA_NO_CLOUD=1

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Berth or Ollama?

Berth scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Ollama's 56.6 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Ollama leads on schema & documentation and maintenance & community.

Do Berth and Ollama need an API key?

Berth needs an API key. Ollama needs no key.

Can an agent call Berth and Ollama without installing anything?

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

Are Berth and Ollama 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). Ollama is open source (MIT (server, CLI and desktop app). Ollama Cloud is a closed service under the ollama.com terms, and each model carries its own licence).

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