# Foundry Local vs MLX LM

> 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.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm.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
- Updated: 2026-10-09

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.

- 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
- 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

## 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:
- Schema & documentation, 53 against 37
- Agent ergonomics, 61 against 54
- Security & auth, 39 against 32
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 61
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 66

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

### MLX LM (D)

Good 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.

Watch for: `mlx_lm.server` has no API key or other credential option, and `--allowed-origins` defaults to `*`


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Foundry Local | MLX LM | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 68 | 66 | Foundry Local +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 37 | Foundry Local +16 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 61 | 54 | Foundry Local +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 39 | 32 | Foundry Local +7 |
| 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 | 61 | Foundry Local +27 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 66 | Foundry Local +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **60.5 · C** | **52.2 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Foundry Local | MLX LM |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | SDK + MCP | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Microsoft | Apple Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | None | None |
| 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 | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-29 | 2026-10-01 |
| 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 | 2.6k stars, 105k npm/wk, 47k PyPI/wk | 7.3k stars, 140k PyPI/wk |

## 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.

## 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

### MLX LM

1. 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
2. Treat any caller as able to load any model. The `model` and `adapters` request fields accept any Hugging Face repository or local path
3. Send `max_tokens` or `max_completion_tokens` when you need more than 512 tokens, the server default
4. Read errors as `{"error": "<text>"}` with 400 for a bad field and 404 for a model that failed to load. They are not OpenAI error objects
5. Poll `GET /health` before the first request. It answers 503 with `unavailable` when the generation thread has stopped

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Foundry Local or MLX LM?

Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against MLX LM's 52.2 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

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

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

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

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).


## For agents

- 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
- 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`
- 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

## Other comparisons with Foundry Local or MLX LM

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