# Foundry Local vs LM Studio

> Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against LM Studio's 57.8 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. LM Studio leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do local inference. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side…

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- Updated: 2026-10-09

Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against LM Studio's 57.8 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. LM Studio leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do local inference.

- Foundry Local: grade C, 60.5/100, rank #461 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/foundry-local.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/foundry-local.json
- LM Studio: grade C, 57.8/100, rank #536 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lm-studio.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lm-studio.json

## Which one, for what

### Foundry Local (C)

Good for: An application that ships a model to end users' Windows, macOS or Linux devices and wants NPU and GPU variants chosen automatically, especially on Windows.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 68 against 34
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 72
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 60

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

Watch for: The local server takes no credential, and its routes include model load and unload and `POST /shutdown`

### 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:
- Schema & documentation, 64 against 53
- Agent ergonomics, 69 against 61
- Security & auth, 59 against 39

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


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Foundry Local | LM Studio | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 68 | 34 | Foundry Local +34 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 64 | LM Studio +11 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 61 | 69 | LM Studio +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 39 | 59 | LM Studio +20 |
| 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) | 88 | 72 | Foundry Local +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 60 | Foundry Local +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **60.5 · C** | **57.8 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Foundry Local | LM Studio |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | SDK + MCP | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Microsoft | Element Labs, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT for the SDKs and the v2 native runtime. The CLI is closed source under Microsoft Software Licence Terms. Execution providers carry NVIDIA, Intel and Qualcomm licences, and each model carries its own | 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 | 2026-09-29 | 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 | 2.6k stars, 105k npm/wk, 47k PyPI/wk | 69k npm/wk, 15k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Foundry Local.** The SDK and its native runtime are MIT, at 2.1.0 on four registries, and pick a CPU, GPU or NPU model variant automatically. The optional local server has no credential, its current routes aren't in the published REST reference, and telemetry is on by default with an opt-out.

**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

### Foundry Local

1. Read the server URL from `manager.urls[0]` or `foundry server status`. The port is dynamic unless the owner sets `web.urls` or `foundry server start --port`
2. Send the model ID that `GET /v1/models` returns, not the alias. The alias resolves to a hardware-specific variant
3. Check `supportsToolCalling` before sending tools. Support differs by variant, and issue #1183 reports Qwen tool calling failing on QNN
4. Set your own request timeout. Inference has no built-in one, and cancellation takes effect only after the current generation step
5. Ask the owner to set `ORT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1` or `disableNonessentialTelemetry` before the manager is created if telemetry must be off

### 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, Foundry Local or LM Studio?

Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against LM Studio's 57.8 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. LM Studio leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and security & auth.

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

No hosted endpoint is listed for Foundry Local. No hosted endpoint is listed for LM Studio.

### Are Foundry Local and LM Studio open source?

Foundry Local is open source (MIT for the SDKs and the v2 native runtime. The CLI is closed source under Microsoft Software Licence Terms. Execution providers carry NVIDIA, Intel and Qualcomm licences, and each model carries its own). No open-source release is listed for LM Studio.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Foundry Local or LM Studio

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