{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "bitrun", "name": "BitRun", "vendor": "Abhishek Khanra (IshekKhal on GitHub)", "vendorUrl": "https://github.com/IshekKhal", "kind": "http-api", "category": "local-ai", "summary": "BitRun is an open-source command-line runner for 1-bit and 1.58-bit ternary language models such as BitNet b1.58, Falcon3 1.58-bit and Bonsai on CPUs, with a model downloader and a local OpenAI-compatible server.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bitrun", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bitrun.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bitrun.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bitrun.json", "repo": "https://github.com/IshekKhal/bitrun", "license": "MIT", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "No credential. `bitrun serve` starts a patched llama-server on 127.0.0.1 (default port 11435, changed with `--port`) and passes no `--api-key`, so any process on the machine can call it. The bind address is fixed in the code, with no flag to expose it on the network. The README's SDK example sets `api_key` to any string.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free under MIT with nothing to buy. Models are downloaded from Hugging Face under each model's own licence.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the source, the README or the release notes (checked 2026-10-15). Nothing is sold.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 5, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-15" }, "docsUrl": "https://github.com/IshekKhal/bitrun#readme", "capabilities": [ "inference.local", "inference.open-weights" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "local", "self-hosted", "free", "no-card", "mit", "openai-compatible", "go", "pre-1.0", "macos", "windows", "cli" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-15", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 37.9, "grade": "F", "agentReady": false, "rank": 1018, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1094, "categoryRank": 18, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 40, "maintenance": 59, "payments": 60, "reliability": 38, "schema": 30, "security": 28, "transparency": 50 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-15" }, "negative": -3, "negativeNotes": [ "Misleading claim, 15 October 2026. The README's \"Verified Hardware Benchmarks\", described as physical hardware runs, list package power of 11.70 W, 22.60 W and 8.50 W for every model on each machine, and joules per token from them. These equal the fixed estimates in power.go (2.5 + 1.15 per thread on macOS without battery data, 5.0 + 2.2 per thread on Windows, 4.5 + 2.0 per thread on Linux without RAPL) at the default thread counts of 8, 8 and 2. The README also says Windows power is measured through PPM and that `pull` resumes downloads, and the source does neither (https://github.com/IshekKhal/bitrun/blob/0fec65a/pkg/telemetry/power.go#L137-L163, https://github.com/IshekKhal/bitrun/blob/0fec65a/pkg/models/downloader.go#L57-L60, https://github.com/IshekKhal/bitrun/blob/0fec65a/README.md). Judgement call, -3." ], "verdict": "BitRun packages patched llama.cpp builds for ternary models into one download for macOS on Apple silicon, Windows and Linux, with a loopback-only OpenAI-compatible server. It is three days old with three pre-release versions, one maintainer and no CI, and its published power figures come from a fixed formula rather than measurement.", "bestFor": "A developer who wants to try ternary models on a laptop CPU behind an OpenAI-style endpoint without building bitnet.cpp.", "strengths": [ "One archive per platform (macOS arm64, Linux amd64, Windows amd64) with llama-server, so no compiler, Python or Docker is needed", "The server binds 127.0.0.1 with no flag to expose it, and works with OpenAI SDKs by changing the base URL", "A catalogue of six ternary and compact models, 79 MB to 2.08 GB, pulled from their Hugging Face repositories by tag", "MIT licence, and no network telemetry found in the Go source. Outbound calls are model downloads on `pull`" ], "weaknesses": [ "First released on 12 October 2026. Three pre-release versions in four days, one maintainer and no CI workflow", "The README's package power and joules-per-token figures match a fixed per-thread formula in the code, not a counter reading", "No API key option, so any local process can call the server, and model downloads and the installer verify no checksum", "The server documentation covers one route, `/v1/chat/completions`, with no error responses, OpenAPI file or llms.txt", "Context windows of the catalogue models run from 768 to 8,192 tokens, and one server process serves one model" ], "agentNotes": [ "Ask the user to install BitRun and run `bitrun pull \u003ctag\u003e` and `bitrun serve \u003ctag\u003e` first. Then call http://127.0.0.1:11435/v1 with any API key string", "Poll `/health` before the first request. The server loads the model in the background and answers only when ready", "Use a model tag from the catalogue (bitnet-70m, bonsai-1.7b, falcon3-1b, bitnet-2b, falcon3-3b, bonsai-8b) and keep prompts within its context window", "Treat the README's energy figures as estimates, and don't report them as measured power", "Expect small research checkpoints. Check outputs before relying on them for code or facts" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "F", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 37.9 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 40, "maintenance": 59, "payments": 60, "reliability": 38, "schema": 30, "security": 28, "transparency": 46 }, "provenanceScore": 53 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/IshekKhal/bitrun/main/install.sh | sh\nbitrun pull falcon3-1b\nbitrun serve falcon3-1b --port 11435", "http": "curl -s http://127.0.0.1:11435/v1/chat/completions \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"model\": \"falcon3-1b\", \"messages\": [{\"role\": \"user\", \"content\": \"How do 1-bit models conserve memory bandwidth?\"}], \"temperature\": 0.2}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.local", "tool": "https://letme.dev/bitrun" }, "area": "models", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Abhishek Khanra (IshekKhal on GitHub)", "domain": "", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/IshekKhal/bitrun/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-15", "notes": [ "The project has no website. The GitHub account IshekKhal (created 17 December 2024) gives the name Abhishek Khanra, and the licence reads Copyright (c) 2026 Abhishek. The Show HN post was made by the HN account ishekofficial.", "No terms, privacy policy, SECURITY.md or security.txt. The repository has no .github folder.", "The software runs on the owner's machine, so there is no vendor endpoint or status page to check." ], "score": 53 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bitrun.json" }, "answer": "MLX LM scores 52.2 (D) on agent readiness against BitRun's 37.9 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "b": { "slug": "mlx-lm", "name": "MLX LM", "vendor": "Apple Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://opensource.apple.com/projects/mlx/", "kind": "http-api", "category": "local-ai", "summary": "Open-source Python package and command-line tools from Apple's MLX team for running, quantising and fine-tuning language models on Apple silicon. `mlx_lm.server` exposes a local HTTP API modelled on OpenAI's chat completions.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mlx-lm", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mlx-lm.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mlx-lm.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mlx-lm.json", "repo": "https://github.com/ml-explore/mlx-lm", "license": "MIT", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "mlx-lm" } ], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "No credential, and no option to add one. `mlx_lm.server` binds 127.0.0.1:8080 by default, and `--allowed-origins` defaults to `*`, so any origin's requests are answered. Access control is left to the network or a proxy in front (https://github.com/ml-explore/mlx-lm/blob/main/mlx_lm/SERVER.md).", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free under MIT, with no account, key or card. Nothing is sold. The owner pays for the hardware and electricity.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs or the source (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 7300, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": 139915, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://github.com/ml-explore/mlx-lm/blob/main/mlx_lm/SERVER.md", "capabilities": [ "inference.local", "inference.open-weights" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "local", "self-hosted", "free", "no-card", "openai-compatible", "python", "pre-1.0", "no-auth", "no-telemetry" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-01", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 52.2, "grade": "D", "agentReady": false, "rank": 792, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1094, "categoryRank": 13, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 54, "maintenance": 61, "payments": 60, "reliability": 66, "schema": 37, "security": 32, "transparency": 66 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "MIT, with no telemetry found in the source, and the tests passed on the last eight pushes to main. `mlx_lm.server` has no API key option, answers any origin by default and loads whichever model a request names, and its own docs say it is not recommended for production.", "bestFor": "An owner with an Apple silicon Mac who wants MLX-format models, local fine-tuning and quantisation from Python or the command line, with a simple local chat completions server.", "strengths": [ "MIT, with no telemetry, analytics or update check found in the source", "Installs from PyPI (`mlx-lm` 0.32.0, Python 3.11 or later) and conda-forge, with releases published to PyPI by trusted publishing from a GitHub workflow", "The Build and Test workflow passed on the last eight pushes to main, with 21 test files run on a macOS runner", "`mlx_lm.server` binds 127.0.0.1:8080 by default, caps output at 512 tokens unless told otherwise and validates field types and ranges with a 400", "127 commits from 82 authors on main in the 90 days to 8 October 2026" ], "weaknesses": [ "`mlx_lm.server` has no API key or other credential option, and `--allowed-origins` defaults to `*`", "A request's `model` and `adapters` fields make the server download or load any Hugging Face repository or local path, with no allow-list (open issue #1892)", "The docs and a start-up warning say the server is not recommended for production because it has only basic security checks", "No OpenAPI file or llms.txt, and `SERVER.md` leaves out `tools`, `seed`, `/health` and the error responses", "One PyPI release in 90 days (0.32.0 on 1 October 2026, the first since 0.31.3 on 22 April), and the version is still 0.x" ], "agentNotes": [ "Keep `mlx_lm.server` on 127.0.0.1 and pass `--allowed-origins` with the origins you trust. There is no API key, and the default answers every origin", "Treat any caller as able to load any model. The `model` and `adapters` request fields accept any Hugging Face repository or local path", "Send `max_tokens` or `max_completion_tokens` when you need more than 512 tokens, the server default", "Read errors as `{\"error\": \"\u003ctext\u003e\"}` with 400 for a bad field and 404 for a model that failed to load. They are not OpenAI error objects", "Poll `GET /health` before the first request. It answers 503 with `unavailable` when the generation thread has stopped" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "D", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 52.2 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 54, "maintenance": 61, "payments": 60, "reliability": 66, "schema": 37, "security": 32, "transparency": 65 }, "provenanceScore": 67 }, "connect": { "install": "pip install mlx-lm\nmlx_lm.server --model mlx-community/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.3-4bit # listens on 127.0.0.1:8080", "http": "curl localhost:8080/v1/chat/completions \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\n \"messages\": [{\"role\": \"user\", \"content\": \"Say this is a test!\"}],\n \"temperature\": 0.7\n }'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.local", "tool": "https://letme.dev/mlx-lm" }, "sameCompany": [ "apple-ads" ], "area": "models", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Apple Inc.", "domain": "apple.com", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/ml-explore/mlx-lm/releases", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The `LICENSE` file reads Copyright 2023 Apple Inc., and the package author on PyPI is MLX Contributors at a group.apple.com address. The repository sits in GitHub's ml-explore organisation and has no website of its own.", "opensource.apple.com/projects/mlx describes the MLX framework and does not name MLX LM. Its footer links Apple's website terms and general privacy policy, which do not govern this software, so terms and privacy are left empty.", "www.apple.com/.well-known/security.txt is valid until 6 October 2027 and is Apple's corporate file. The repository's own policy takes reports through GitHub private vulnerability reporting.", "There is no shared hosted endpoint. The server runs on the owner's machine." ], "score": 67 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mlx-lm.json", "live": { "slug": "mlx-lm", "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "ml-explore/mlx-lm", "version": "v0.31.3", "released": "2026-04-22", "seenAt": "2026-10-15T00:07:12.17587006Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "mlx-lm", "version": "0.32.0", "released": "2026-10-01", "seenAt": "2026-10-15T00:07:11.989101036Z" } ], "githubStars": 7303, "pypiWeekly": 137103, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://apple.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2027-10-09T01:00:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-10-14T15:47:03.925229281Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "apple.com", "registered": "1987-02-19", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/apple.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-11T13:16:28.353337821Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-15T00:07:12.17587006Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Abhishek Khanra (IshekKhal on GitHub)", "b": "Apple Inc.", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "None", "b": "None", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Free", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "MIT", "b": "MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-15", "b": "2026-10-01", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "5 stars", "b": "7.3k stars, 140k PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "MLX LM scores 52.2 (D) on agent readiness against BitRun's 37.9 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, BitRun or MLX LM?" }, { "answer": "Neither needs a key.", "question": "Do BitRun and MLX LM need an API key?" }, { "answer": "No hosted endpoint is listed for BitRun. No hosted endpoint is listed for MLX LM.", "question": "Can an agent call BitRun and MLX LM without installing anything?" }, { "answer": "Yes. BitRun is open source (MIT). MLX LM is open source (MIT).", "question": "Are BitRun and MLX LM open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "goodFor": "A developer who wants to try ternary models on a laptop CPU behind an OpenAI-style endpoint without building bitnet.cpp.", "slug": "bitrun", "watchFor": "First released on 12 October 2026. Three pre-release versions in four days, one maintainer and no CI workflow" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 66 against 38", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 37 against 30", "Agent ergonomics, 54 against 40", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 66 against 50" ], "also": [ "No incidents deducted, where BitRun loses 3 points for them" ], "goodFor": "An owner with an Apple silicon Mac who wants MLX-format models, local fine-tuning and quantisation from Python or the command line, with a simple local chat completions server.", "slug": "mlx-lm", "watchFor": "`mlx_lm.server` has no API key or other credential option, and `--allowed-origins` defaults to `*`" } ], "job": { "capability": "inference.local", "name": "Local inference" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-bitrun.json", "title": "AnythingLLM vs BitRun", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-bitrun" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-mlx-lm.json", "title": "AnythingLLM vs MLX LM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-mlx-lm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-docker-model-runner.json", "title": "BitRun vs Docker Model Runner", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-docker-model-runner" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-foundry-local.json", "title": "BitRun vs Foundry Local", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-foundry-local" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-ghost-core.json", "title": "BitRun vs Core", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-ghost-core" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-gpt4all.json", "title": "BitRun vs GPT4All", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-gpt4all" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-jan.json", "title": "BitRun vs Jan", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-jan" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-khoj.json", "title": "BitRun vs Khoj", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-khoj" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-koboldcpp.json", "title": "BitRun vs KoboldCpp", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-koboldcpp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-lemonade.json", "title": "BitRun vs Lemonade", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-lemonade" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-llama-cpp.json", "title": "BitRun vs llama.cpp", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-llama-cpp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-lm-studio.json", "title": "BitRun vs LM Studio", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-lm-studio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-localai.json", "title": "BitRun vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-ollama.json", "title": "BitRun vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-ollama" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-open-webui.json", "title": "BitRun vs Open WebUI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-open-webui" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-screenpipe.json", "title": "BitRun vs screenpipe", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-screenpipe" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-text-generation-webui.json", "title": "BitRun vs TextGen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-text-generation-webui" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-vllm.json", "title": "BitRun vs vLLM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-vllm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-mlx-lm.json", "title": "Docker Model Runner vs MLX LM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-mlx-lm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs MLX LM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-mlx-lm.json", "title": "Core vs MLX LM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-mlx-lm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-mlx-lm.json", "title": "GPT4All vs MLX LM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-mlx-lm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-mlx-lm.json", "title": "Jan vs MLX LM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-mlx-lm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-mlx-lm.json", "title": "Khoj vs MLX LM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-mlx-lm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-mlx-lm.json", "title": "KoboldCpp vs MLX LM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-mlx-lm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-mlx-lm.json", "title": "Lemonade vs MLX LM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-mlx-lm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-mlx-lm.json", "title": "llama.cpp vs MLX LM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-mlx-lm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-mlx-lm.json", "title": "LM Studio vs MLX LM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-mlx-lm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-mlx-lm.json", "title": "LocalAI vs MLX LM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-mlx-lm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-ollama.json", "title": "MLX LM vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-ollama" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-open-webui.json", "title": "MLX LM vs Open WebUI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-open-webui" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-screenpipe.json", "title": "MLX LM vs screenpipe", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-screenpipe" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-text-generation-webui.json", "title": "MLX LM vs TextGen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-text-generation-webui" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-vllm.json", "title": "MLX LM vs vLLM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-vllm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-underdog.json", "title": "BitRun vs Underdog", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-underdog" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-underdog.json", "title": "MLX LM vs Underdog", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-underdog" } ], "scores": [ { "bitrun": 38, "by": 28, "edge": "mlx-lm", "key": "reliability", "mlx-lm": 66, "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "bitrun": 30, "by": 7, "edge": "mlx-lm", "key": "schema", "mlx-lm": 37, "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "bitrun": 40, "by": 14, "edge": "mlx-lm", "key": "ergonomics", "mlx-lm": 54, "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "bitrun": 28, "by": 4, "edge": "mlx-lm", "key": "security", "mlx-lm": 32, "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "bitrun": 60, "by": 0, "edge": "", "key": "payments", "mlx-lm": 60, "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "bitrun": 59, "by": 2, "edge": "mlx-lm", "key": "maintenance", "mlx-lm": 61, "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "bitrun": 50, "by": 16, "edge": "mlx-lm", "key": "transparency", "mlx-lm": 66, "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "MLX LM scores 52.2 (D) on agent readiness against BitRun's 37.9 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do local inference.", "verdicts": { "bitrun": "BitRun packages patched llama.cpp builds for ternary models into one download for macOS on Apple silicon, Windows and Linux, with a loopback-only OpenAI-compatible server. It is three days old with three pre-release versions, one maintainer and no CI, and its published power figures come from a fixed formula rather than measurement.", "mlx-lm": "MIT, with no telemetry found in the source, and the tests passed on the last eight pushes to main. `mlx_lm.server` has no API key option, answers any origin by default and loads whichever model a request names, and its own docs say it is not recommended for production." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-mlx-lm", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-mlx-lm.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-mlx-lm.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-mlx-lm.min.md" }, "markdown": "MLX LM scores 52.2 (D) on agent readiness against BitRun's 37.9 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do local inference.\n\n- BitRun: grade F, 37.9/100, rank #1018 of 1094. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bitrun.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bitrun.json\n- MLX LM: grade D, 52.2/100, rank #792 of 1094. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mlx-lm.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mlx-lm.json\n- Best local AI models and assistants: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/local-ai/index.md\n- All 204 local ai comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/local-ai/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### BitRun (F)\n\nGood for: A developer who wants to try ternary models on a laptop CPU behind an OpenAI-style endpoint without building bitnet.cpp.\n\nWatch for: First released on 12 October 2026. Three pre-release versions in four days, one maintainer and no CI workflow\n\n### MLX LM (D)\n\nGood for: An owner with an Apple silicon Mac who wants MLX-format models, local fine-tuning and quantisation from Python or the command line, with a simple local chat completions server.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 66 against 38\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 37 against 30\n- Agent ergonomics, 54 against 40\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 66 against 50\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No incidents deducted, where BitRun loses 3 points for them\n\nWatch for: `mlx_lm.server` has no API key or other credential option, and `--allowed-origins` defaults to `*`\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | BitRun | MLX LM | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 38 | 66 | MLX LM +28 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 30 | 37 | MLX LM +7 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 40 | 54 | MLX LM +14 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 28 | 32 | MLX LM +4 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 59 | 61 | MLX LM +2 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 50 | 66 | MLX LM +16 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **37.9 · F** | **52.2 · D** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | BitRun | MLX LM |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Abhishek Khanra (IshekKhal on GitHub) | Apple Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | None | None |\n| Pricing | Free | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | MIT | MIT |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | no |\n| Last release | 2026-10-15 | 2026-10-01 |\n| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |\n| Customer content may train models | | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | | |\n| Popularity | 5 stars | 7.3k stars, 140k PyPI/wk |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**BitRun.** BitRun packages patched llama.cpp builds for ternary models into one download for macOS on Apple silicon, Windows and Linux, with a loopback-only OpenAI-compatible server. It is three days old with three pre-release versions, one maintainer and no CI, and its published power figures come from a fixed formula rather than measurement.\n\n**MLX LM.** MIT, with no telemetry found in the source, and the tests passed on the last eight pushes to main. `mlx_lm.server` has no API key option, answers any origin by default and loads whichever model a request names, and its own docs say it is not recommended for production.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### BitRun\n\n1. Ask the user to install BitRun and run `bitrun pull \u003ctag\u003e` and `bitrun serve \u003ctag\u003e` first. Then call http://127.0.0.1:11435/v1 with any API key string\n2. Poll `/health` before the first request. The server loads the model in the background and answers only when ready\n3. Use a model tag from the catalogue (bitnet-70m, bonsai-1.7b, falcon3-1b, bitnet-2b, falcon3-3b, bonsai-8b) and keep prompts within its context window\n4. Treat the README's energy figures as estimates, and don't report them as measured power\n5. Expect small research checkpoints. Check outputs before relying on them for code or facts\n\n### MLX LM\n\n1. Keep `mlx_lm.server` on 127.0.0.1 and pass `--allowed-origins` with the origins you trust. There is no API key, and the default answers every origin\n2. Treat any caller as able to load any model. The `model` and `adapters` request fields accept any Hugging Face repository or local path\n3. Send `max_tokens` or `max_completion_tokens` when you need more than 512 tokens, the server default\n4. Read errors as `{\"error\": \"\u003ctext\u003e\"}` with 400 for a bad field and 404 for a model that failed to load. They are not OpenAI error objects\n5. Poll `GET /health` before the first request. It answers 503 with `unavailable` when the generation thread has stopped\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, BitRun or MLX LM?\n\nMLX LM scores 52.2 (D) on agent readiness against BitRun's 37.9 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.\n\n### Do BitRun and MLX LM need an API key?\n\nNeither needs a key.\n\n### Can an agent call BitRun and MLX LM without installing anything?\n\nNo hosted endpoint is listed for BitRun. No hosted endpoint is listed for MLX LM.\n\n### Are BitRun and MLX LM open source?\n\nYes. BitRun is open source (MIT). MLX LM is open source (MIT).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-mlx-lm.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-mlx-lm.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"bitrun\", \"b\": \"mlx-lm\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare bitrun mlx-lm`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bitrun.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mlx-lm.json\n\n## Other comparisons with BitRun or MLX LM\n\n- [AnythingLLM vs BitRun](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-bitrun.md)\n- [AnythingLLM vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [BitRun vs Docker Model Runner](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-docker-model-runner.md)\n- [BitRun vs Foundry Local](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-foundry-local.md)\n- [BitRun vs Core](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-ghost-core.md)\n- [BitRun vs GPT4All](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-gpt4all.md)\n- [BitRun vs Jan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-jan.md)\n- [BitRun vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-khoj.md)\n- [BitRun vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-koboldcpp.md)\n- [BitRun vs Lemonade](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-lemonade.md)\n- [BitRun vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-llama-cpp.md)\n- [BitRun vs LM Studio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-lm-studio.md)\n- [BitRun vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-localai.md)\n- [BitRun vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-ollama.md)\n- [BitRun vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-open-webui.md)\n- [BitRun vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-screenpipe.md)\n- [BitRun vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-text-generation-webui.md)\n- [BitRun vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-vllm.md)\n- [Docker Model Runner vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [Core vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [GPT4All vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [Jan vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [Khoj vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [KoboldCpp vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [Lemonade vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [llama.cpp vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [LM Studio vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [LocalAI vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [MLX LM vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-ollama.md)\n- [MLX LM vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-open-webui.md)\n- [MLX LM vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-screenpipe.md)\n- [MLX LM vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-text-generation-webui.md)\n- [MLX LM vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-vllm.md)\n- [BitRun vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-underdog.md)\n- [MLX LM vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-underdog.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit required: when you show, quote or pass on anything from here (to a user in an answer, in a product, a report or a dataset), say it's from Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link the page or API address you took it from. Reviews also credit their author.", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-15", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "BitRun vs MLX LM", "url": "" } ], "description": "MLX LM scores 52.2 (D) to BitRun's 37.9 (F) for local inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "BitRun F 37.9", "MLX LM D 52.2", "scores" ], "h1": "BitRun vs MLX LM", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-bitrun-vs-mlx-lm.png", "path": "/compare/bitrun-vs-mlx-lm", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "BitRun vs MLX LM for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-15", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-mlx-lm" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2500, "slim": 480 }, "version": 1 }