# BitRun vs TextGen

> TextGen scores 45.1 (E) to BitRun's 37.9 (F) for local inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-text-generation-webui
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- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-text-generation-webui.min.md (~530 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-text-generation-webui.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
- Licence: 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.
- Updated: 2026-10-15

TextGen scores 45.1 (E) on agent readiness against BitRun's 37.9 (F), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. BitRun leads on maintenance & community. Both do local inference.

- 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
- TextGen: grade E, 45.1/100, rank #950 of 1094. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/text-generation-webui.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/text-generation-webui.json
- Best local AI models and assistants: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/local-ai/index.md
- All 204 local ai comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/local-ai/index.md

## Which one, for what

### BitRun (F)

Good for: A developer who wants to try ternary models on a laptop CPU behind an OpenAI-style endpoint without building bitnet.cpp.

Ahead on:
- Maintenance & community, 59 against 24

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it

Watch for: First released on 12 October 2026. Three pre-release versions in four days, one maintainer and no CI workflow

### TextGen (E)

Good for: A person who wants one app for several backends (llama.cpp, ExLlamaV3, Transformers) with an OpenAI and Anthropic-compatible endpoint, LoRA training and image generation.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 51 against 38
- Schema & documentation, 61 against 30
- Agent ergonomics, 50 against 40
- Security & auth, 40 against 28

Watch for: No release since v4.9 on 20 May 2026 and no code commit on `main` or `dev` since 31 May 2026


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | BitRun | TextGen | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 38 | 51 | TextGen +13 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 30 | 61 | TextGen +31 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 40 | 50 | TextGen +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 28 | 40 | TextGen +12 |
| 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) | 59 | 24 | BitRun +35 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 50 | 49 | BitRun +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **37.9 · F** | **45.1 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | BitRun | TextGen |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | Platform |
| Vendor | Abhishek Khanra (IshekKhal on GitHub) | oobabooga |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-15 | 2026-05-20 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| 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 | 5 stars | 48k stars |

## 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.

**TextGen.** AGPL-3.0 with no telemetry, and a local API on 127.0.0.1:5000 that checks the Host header, limits CORS to localhost and separates an admin key from the caller's key. No release since v4.9 on 20 May 2026, no code commits since 31 May, no test suite, and ten security advisories in the year, all fixed.

## Before you call either

### BitRun

1. Ask the user to install BitRun and run `bitrun pull <tag>` and `bitrun serve <tag>` first. Then call http://127.0.0.1:11435/v1 with any API key string
2. Poll `/health` before the first request. The server loads the model in the background and answers only when ready
3. 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
4. Treat the README's energy figures as estimates, and don't report them as measured power
5. Expect small research checkpoints. Check outputs before relying on them for code or facts

### TextGen

1. Ask the owner to launch with `--api`. Nothing listens on port 5000 without it, and a model must be loaded first
2. Call `http://127.0.0.1:5000/v1`. Any Host header other than localhost or 127.0.0.1 gets 400 `Invalid host header` unless `--listen` is set
3. Send the key as `Authorization: Bearer` on OpenAI routes and as `x-api-key` on `/v1/messages`. Model loading needs the admin key
4. Read `http://127.0.0.1:5000/docs` or `modules/api/typing.py` for parameters. `max_tokens` defaults to 512 on chat completions
5. Run tool calls yourself. The API returns `finish_reason: "tool_calls"` and executes nothing on the server
6. Use the repository name `oobabooga/textgen`. The old `text-generation-webui` URL redirects

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, BitRun or TextGen?

TextGen scores 45.1 (E) on agent readiness against BitRun's 37.9 (F), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. BitRun leads on maintenance & community.

### Can an agent call BitRun and TextGen without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for BitRun. No hosted endpoint is listed for TextGen.

### Are BitRun and TextGen open source?

Yes. BitRun is open source (MIT). TextGen is open source (AGPL-3.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with BitRun or TextGen

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