{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "foundry-local", "name": "Foundry Local", "vendor": "Microsoft", "vendorUrl": "https://www.foundrylocal.ai", "kind": "sdk", "category": "local-ai", "summary": "Microsoft's on-device model runtime, built on ONNX Runtime. Applications embed it through SDKs for C#, JavaScript, Python and Rust, and it can start an optional OpenAI-compatible server on localhost. A preview CLI is also available.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/foundry-local", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/foundry-local.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/foundry-local.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/foundry-local.json", "repo": "https://github.com/microsoft/Foundry-Local", "license": "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", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "foundry-local-sdk" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "foundry-local-sdk" }, { "registry": "nuget", "name": "Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local" }, { "registry": "cargo", "name": "foundry-local-sdk" } ], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "No authentication. The SDK runs in the application's own process, and the optional local server takes no key or token. It binds to 127.0.0.1 on a dynamic port unless the owner configures `web.urls` or starts the CLI daemon with `--port`. No account or Azure subscription is needed.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free, with no account, card or Azure subscription. The SDK is MIT and the CLI is a free download under Microsoft's licence terms. Microsoft states there are no per-token costs. Foundry Local on Azure Local is a separate product for servers and is not covered here (checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, the README or the SDK source (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 2600, "npmWeekly": 105372, "pypiWeekly": 47344, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/foundry-local/", "capabilities": [ "inference.local", "inference.open-weights", "embed.text", "speech.stt" ], "tags": [ "local", "open-source", "free", "no-card", "account-free", "no-auth", "openai-compatible", "csharp", "typescript", "python", "rust", "npu", "telemetry-on-by-default" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-29", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 60.5, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 461, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 61, "maintenance": 88, "payments": 60, "reliability": 68, "schema": 53, "security": 39, "transparency": 72 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "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.", "strengths": [ "SDK 2.1.0 published on npm, PyPI, NuGet and crates.io on 29 September 2026, with the SDK and the v2 native runtime under MIT in a public repository", "A model alias selects the best variant for the machine's CPU, GPU or NPU, with CUDA, WebGPU, OpenVINO, QNN and Vitis AI execution providers", "The v2 server answers `/v1/chat/completions`, `/v1/responses`, `/v1/embeddings`, `/v1/audio/transcriptions` and `/v1/models` in OpenAI's shapes", "Six releases in the 90 days to 8 October 2026, and the v2.0.1 notes carry a breaking-changes section", "No account, key, card or Azure subscription is needed, and prompts and outputs are processed on the device per the docs" ], "weaknesses": [ "The local server takes no credential, and its routes include model load and unload and `POST /shutdown`", "The REST reference on Microsoft Learn lists `/openai/*` and `/foundry/list` routes that the v2 runtime source doesn't register, and doesn't cover `/v1/responses`", "Telemetry is on by default through Microsoft's 1DS SDK. The opt-out covers non-essential telemetry only, and the Learn FAQ doesn't mention it", "The CLI is a closed-source public preview, and its REST reference warns of breaking changes without notice", "76 open issues on 8 October 2026, among them a Linux ARM64 segmentation fault (#1182) and several unanswered GPU and NPU detection reports" ], "agentNotes": [ "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`", "Send the model ID that `GET /v1/models` returns, not the alias. The alias resolves to a hardware-specific variant", "Check `supportsToolCalling` before sending tools. Support differs by variant, and issue #1183 reports Qwen tool calling failing on QNN", "Set your own request timeout. Inference has no built-in one, and cancellation takes effect only after the current generation step", "Ask the owner to set `ORT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1` or `disableNonessentialTelemetry` before the manager is created if telemetry must be off" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 60.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 61, "maintenance": 88, "payments": 60, "reliability": 68, "schema": 53, "security": 39, "transparency": 63 }, "provenanceScore": 80 }, "connect": { "install": "pip install foundry-local-sdk # or: npm install foundry-local-sdk\n# CLI (preview): winget install Microsoft.FoundryLocal # macOS: brew tap microsoft/foundrylocal \u0026\u0026 brew install foundrylocal", "http": "foundry server start --port 39839 --idle-timeout 0\ncurl http://localhost:39839/v1/chat/completions \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"model\": \"\u003cMODEL_ID\u003e\", \"messages\": [{\"role\": \"user\", \"content\": \"What is the golden ratio?\"}]}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.local", "tool": "https://letme.dev/foundry-local" }, "sameCompany": [ "azure-foundry-fine-tuning", "azure-ai-content-safety", "azure-speech-to-text", "azure-text-to-speech", "microsoft-agent-framework", "microsoft-execution-containers", "microsoft-entra-agent-id", "azure-key-vault", "azure-document-intelligence", "azure-devops-mcp", "microsoft-learn-mcp", "playwright-mcp", "azure-mcp", "azure-maps", "azure-translator", "microsoft-graph-calendar", "azure-blob-storage", "onedrive-sharepoint", "microsoft-teams", "dynamics-365-sales", "power-automate", "microsoft-advertising-api", "microsoft-excel-graph", "outlook-mail-graph" ], "area": "models", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Microsoft Corporation", "domain": "microsoft.com", "domainRegistered": "1991-05-02", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/microsoft/Foundry-Local/releases", "securityTxt": "expired", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The repository is under GitHub's microsoft organisation, the licence file reads Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, and foundrylocal.ai names Microsoft Corporation as publisher.", "The terms link is the repository's LICENSE file, which holds the MIT licence for the SDK and the Microsoft Software Licence Terms for the CLI. Microsoft publishes no other agreement for Foundry Local that we found.", "The privacy link is the product's own privacy file in the repository, which the README links. It and the CLI licence both refer on to the Microsoft Privacy Statement, a company-wide notice, which answered 403 to our request.", "www.microsoft.com/.well-known/security.txt loads and points to the MSRC researcher portal, but its Expires field is 2026-09-23T16:00:00.000Z, which had passed on 8 October 2026. learn.microsoft.com and foundrylocal.ai return 404.", "No status page is listed because the software runs on the owner's machine. The model catalogue is a cloud service with no status page that we found.", "RDAP gives microsoft.com a registration date of 1991-05-02 and foundrylocal.ai one of 2025-10-07." ], "score": 80 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/foundry-local.json" }, "answer": "Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against MLX LM's 52.2 (D), 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": 657, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 12, "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" }, "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" }, "facts": [ { "a": "SDK + MCP", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Microsoft", "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 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", "b": "MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-29", "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": "2.6k stars, 105k npm/wk, 47k PyPI/wk", "b": "7.3k stars, 140k PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against MLX LM's 52.2 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Foundry Local or MLX LM?" }, { "answer": "No hosted endpoint is listed for Foundry Local. No hosted endpoint is listed for MLX LM.", "question": "Can an agent call Foundry Local and MLX LM without installing anything?" }, { "answer": "Yes. 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). MLX LM is open source (MIT).", "question": "Are Foundry Local and MLX LM open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 53 against 37", "Agent ergonomics, 61 against 54", "Security \u0026 auth, 39 against 32", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 88 against 61", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 72 against 66" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "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.", "slug": "foundry-local", "watchFor": "The local server takes no credential, and its routes include model load and unload and `POST /shutdown`" }, { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "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-foundry-local.json", "title": "AnythingLLM vs Foundry Local", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-foundry-local" }, { "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/docker-model-runner-vs-foundry-local.json", "title": "Docker Model Runner vs Foundry Local", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-foundry-local" }, { "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-ghost-core.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs Core", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ghost-core" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-gpt4all.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs GPT4All", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-gpt4all" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-jan.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs Jan", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-jan" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-khoj.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs Khoj", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-khoj" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-koboldcpp.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs KoboldCpp", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-koboldcpp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-lemonade.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs Lemonade", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-lemonade" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-llama-cpp.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs llama.cpp", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-llama-cpp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-lm-studio.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs LM Studio", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-lm-studio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-localai.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ollama.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ollama" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-open-webui.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs Open WebUI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-open-webui" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-screenpipe.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs screenpipe", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-screenpipe" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-text-generation-webui.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs TextGen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-text-generation-webui" }, { "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/foundry-local-vs-underdog.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs Underdog", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-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": [ { "by": 2, "edge": "foundry-local", "foundry-local": 68, "key": "reliability", "mlx-lm": 66, "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 16, "edge": "foundry-local", "foundry-local": 53, "key": "schema", "mlx-lm": 37, "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 7, "edge": "foundry-local", "foundry-local": 61, "key": "ergonomics", "mlx-lm": 54, "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 7, "edge": "foundry-local", "foundry-local": 39, "key": "security", "mlx-lm": 32, "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "by": 0, "edge": "", "foundry-local": 60, "key": "payments", "mlx-lm": 60, "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 27, "edge": "foundry-local", "foundry-local": 88, "key": "maintenance", "mlx-lm": 61, "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "by": 6, "edge": "foundry-local", "foundry-local": 72, "key": "transparency", "mlx-lm": 66, "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against MLX LM's 52.2 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do local inference.", "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.", "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/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm.min.md" }, "markdown": "Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against MLX LM's 52.2 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do local inference.\n\n- 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\n- MLX LM: grade D, 52.2/100, rank #657 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mlx-lm.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mlx-lm.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Foundry Local (C)\n\nGood 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.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 53 against 37\n- Agent ergonomics, 61 against 54\n- Security \u0026 auth, 39 against 32\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 88 against 61\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 72 against 66\n\nWatch for: The local server takes no credential, and its routes include model load and unload and `POST /shutdown`\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\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 | Foundry Local | MLX LM | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 68 | 66 | Foundry Local +2 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 37 | Foundry Local +16 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 61 | 54 | Foundry Local +7 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 39 | 32 | Foundry Local +7 |\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) | 88 | 61 | Foundry Local +27 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 66 | Foundry Local +6 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **60.5 · C** | **52.2 · D** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Foundry Local | MLX LM |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | SDK + MCP | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Microsoft | 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 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 | MIT |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | no |\n| Last release | 2026-09-29 | 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 | 2.6k stars, 105k npm/wk, 47k PyPI/wk | 7.3k stars, 140k PyPI/wk |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**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.\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### Foundry Local\n\n1. 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`\n2. Send the model ID that `GET /v1/models` returns, not the alias. The alias resolves to a hardware-specific variant\n3. Check `supportsToolCalling` before sending tools. Support differs by variant, and issue #1183 reports Qwen tool calling failing on QNN\n4. Set your own request timeout. Inference has no built-in one, and cancellation takes effect only after the current generation step\n5. Ask the owner to set `ORT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1` or `disableNonessentialTelemetry` before the manager is created if telemetry must be off\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, Foundry Local or MLX LM?\n\nFoundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against MLX LM's 52.2 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.\n\n### Can an agent call Foundry Local and MLX LM without installing anything?\n\nNo hosted endpoint is listed for Foundry Local. No hosted endpoint is listed for MLX LM.\n\n### Are Foundry Local and MLX LM open source?\n\nYes. 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). MLX LM is open source (MIT).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"foundry-local\", \"b\": \"mlx-lm\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare foundry-local mlx-lm`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/foundry-local.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mlx-lm.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Foundry Local or MLX LM\n\n- [AnythingLLM vs Foundry Local](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-foundry-local.md)\n- [AnythingLLM vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [Docker Model Runner vs Foundry Local](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-foundry-local.md)\n- [Docker Model Runner vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs Core](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ghost-core.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs GPT4All](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-gpt4all.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs Jan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-jan.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-khoj.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs KoboldCpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-koboldcpp.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs Lemonade](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-lemonade.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-llama-cpp.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs LM Studio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-lm-studio.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-localai.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ollama.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-open-webui.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-screenpipe.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-text-generation-webui.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- [Foundry Local vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-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)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-09", "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" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Foundry Local vs MLX LM", "url": "" } ], "description": "Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against MLX LM's 52.2 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do local inference. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Foundry Local C 60.5", "MLX LM D 52.2", "scores" ], "h1": "Foundry Local vs MLX LM", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm.png", "path": "/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Foundry Local vs MLX LM for AI agents, C 60.5 vs D 52.2", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2550, "slim": 580 }, "version": 1 }