# Berth vs Ollama

> Berth scores 67.6 (B) to Ollama's 56.6 (C) for local inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-ollama
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-ollama.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-ollama.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-ollama.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 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.

- 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
- Ollama: grade C, 56.6/100, rank #732 of 1218. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ollama.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ollama.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 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)

Good 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

| Category | Weight | Berth | Ollama | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 76 | 53 | Berth +23 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 79 | Ollama +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 75 | even |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 51 | 28 | Berth +23 |
| 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 | 81 | Ollama +5 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 63 | Berth +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **67.6 · B** | **56.6 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Berth | Ollama |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Trevin Tindall (T-Crypt on GitHub) | Ollama Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| 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 | MIT (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 documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-05-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-03-01 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | yes |
| Popularity | 245 stars | 181k stars, 872k npm/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.

**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).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Berth or Ollama

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

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