{ "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 Ollama's 56.3 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Ollama leads on schema \u0026 documentation and agent ergonomics.", "b": { "slug": "ollama", "name": "Ollama", "vendor": "Ollama Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://ollama.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "local-ai", "summary": "Open-source model runner for macOS, Windows and Linux, with a local API and a library of downloadable models.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ollama", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ollama.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ollama.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ollama.json", "repo": "https://github.com/ollama/ollama", "license": "MIT (server, CLI and desktop app). Ollama Cloud is a closed service under the ollama.com terms, and each model carries its own licence", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "oci", "name": "docker.io/ollama/ollama" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "ollama" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "ollama" } ], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "The local API at http://localhost:11434 takes no credential. It binds 127.0.0.1, answers a foreign Host header with 403 while bound to loopback, and allows cross-origin calls from 127.0.0.1 and 0.0.0.0 unless `OLLAMA_ORIGINS` adds more. Anything that reaches the port can generate, pull, push, create, copy and delete models. Cloud models through the local server need `ollama signin`, which signs requests with the install's own key. Direct calls to https://ollama.com/api and /v1 need a Bearer API key from ollama.com/settings/keys, which doesn't expire and has no scopes, and is revoked from the same page (https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/main/docs/api/authentication.mdx).", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "The server, CLI and desktop app are free under MIT with no account. Ollama Cloud has five plans on ollama.com/pricing. Free ($0, starter usage credits, starter models, 1 concurrent request), Pro ($20 a month or $200 a year, $60 of usage credits a month, 3 concurrent requests), Max ($100 a month, $300 of credits, 10 concurrent requests), Team ($500 a month, $1,000 of shared credits, unlimited users) and Enterprise (custom). Usage is priced per model by the token, and the page doesn't say whether the Free plan needs a card (checked 2026-10-03).", "priceSummary": "$20 / mo", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, the pricing page or the source (checked 2026-10-03).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 181200, "npmWeekly": 871543, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-03" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.ollama.com", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.ollama.com/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ollama/ollama/main/docs/openapi.yaml", "capabilities": [ "inference.local", "inference.open-weights", "inference.llm", "embed.text", "inference.decision", "web.search", "web.fetch" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "local", "self-hosted", "hosted", "freemium", "no-card", "openai-compatible", "openapi", "llms-txt", "docker", "go", "python", "typescript", "pre-1.0", "no-auth" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-01", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 56.3, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 570, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 9, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 75, "maintenance": 81, "payments": 60, "reliability": 53, "schema": 79, "security": 28, "transparency": 59 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-03" }, "negative": -4, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-04-29. CERT Polska published CVE-2026-42248 and CVE-2026-42249 (9.8 each). The Windows app accepted downloaded updates without a signature check and took the file name from the server's response, and it installs updates silently, so whoever could answer the update request could run code on the machine. CERT Polska tested 0.12.10 to 0.17.5, and the Windows check stayed a stub returning success until v0.23.3 on 12 May 2026, whose notes list the fix only as `app: harden update flows`. CERT Polska says the maintainers didn't respond with details or the vulnerable range, and Ollama published no advisory. Fixed, but not disclosed by the vendor, -4. https://cert.pl/en/posts/2026/04/CVE-2026-42248/; https://github.com/ollama/ollama/releases/tag/v0.23.3" ], "verdict": "An OpenAPI 3.1 file for the 15 native operations and llms.txt with 68 links to Markdown pages. No credential on the local API, and any caller that reaches it can pull, push, create and delete models.", "bestFor": "A person or an agent that wants an open model behind a local API with one install, and for pointing Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode at local or cloud models.", "strengths": [ "An OpenAPI 3.1 file for the 15 native operations and llms.txt with 68 links to Markdown pages", "Native, OpenAI-compatible and Anthropic-compatible routes on one local port, with `ollama launch` for Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode", "28 releases in the 90 days to 3 October 2026, and official Python and JavaScript libraries released on 28 September", "Local prompts stay on the machine, and `OLLAMA_NO_CLOUD=1` turns off cloud models and web search", "Binds 127.0.0.1 by default and refuses foreign Host headers while bound to loopback" ], "weaknesses": [ "No credential on the local API, and any caller that reaches it can pull, push, create and delete models", "No GitHub security advisory, against 12 CVEs on NVD since October 2025", "The Windows updater installed unsigned files until v0.23.3 on 12 May 2026, fixed under a release note that didn't mention security", "The desktop app checks ollama.com every hour with a signed request, even with automatic updates off, and no documented way to stop it", "A default context of 4k tokens below 24 GiB of VRAM, where the docs say agents need 64,000" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send `\"stream\": false` for one JSON body. The native routes stream NDJSON by default", "Set `OLLAMA_CONTEXT_LENGTH=64000` or `options.num_ctx` before agent work. The default is 4k below 24 GiB of VRAM", "Back off on a 503. It means the queue (512 by default) is full", "Put an authenticating proxy in front before binding past 127.0.0.1. The server checks no credential", "Expect model names with a `cloud` tag to run on Ollama's servers. They need `ollama signin` and fail with `OLLAMA_NO_CLOUD=1`" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 2.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 56.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 75, "maintenance": 81, "payments": 60, "reliability": 53, "schema": 79, "security": 28, "transparency": 66 }, "provenanceScore": 52 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh # macOS and Linux; Windows: irm https://ollama.com/install.ps1 | iex\nollama pull gemma4:e2b", "http": "curl http://localhost:11434/api/chat \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\n \"model\": \"gemma4:e2b\",\n \"messages\": [{\"role\": \"user\", \"content\": \"Say hello in one sentence.\"}],\n \"stream\": false\n }'", "claudeCode": "ollama launch claude # or: ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=ollama ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=\"\" ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434 claude --model qwen3.5" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.local", "tool": "https://letme.dev/ollama" }, "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Ollama Cloud Pro", "unit": "month", "usd": 20, "note": "$60 of usage credits a month, 3 concurrent requests. $200 a year" }, { "item": "Ollama Cloud Max", "unit": "month", "usd": 100, "note": "$300 of usage credits a month, 10 concurrent requests" }, { "item": "Ollama Cloud Team", "unit": "month", "usd": 500, "note": "$1,000 of shared usage credits a month, unlimited users, 10 concurrent requests" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Ollama Inc.", "domain": "ollama.com", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://ollama.com/terms", "privacy": "https://ollama.com/privacy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/ollama/ollama/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-03", "notes": [ "The terms (last updated May 2026) name Ollama Inc., under California law with arbitration in San Francisco. The privacy policy was last updated in March 2026.", "ollama.com/.well-known/security.txt returns 404. SECURITY.md sends reports to hello@ollama.com.", "status.ollama.com doesn't resolve, and we found no other status page for Ollama Cloud.", "The API an agent calls runs on the owner's machine, so there's no shared endpoint to check. Ollama Cloud answers at https://ollama.com/api and /v1." ], "score": 52 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ollama.json", "live": { "slug": "ollama", "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "ollama/ollama", "version": "v0.40.1", "released": "2026-10-07", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:23:02.6097517Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "ollama", "version": "0.6.4", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:23:02.362375923Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "ollama", "version": "0.6.3", "released": "2026-09-29", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:23:02.244609581Z" } ], "githubStars": 182568, "npmWeekly": 896480, "pypiWeekly": 3497787, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://ollama.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:41.845996296Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://docs.ollama.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T14:00:42.41869475Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "ollama.com", "registered": "2017-05-08", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/ollama.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:05:52.948193398Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://ollama.com/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:27.211563974Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:27.211563974Z", "fingerprint": "0d2286fd10da" }, { "url": "https://ollama.com/terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:29.35897412Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:29.35897412Z", "fingerprint": "3bfbf07c7a8b" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:29.35897412Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "SDK + MCP", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Microsoft", "b": "Ollama 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": "Freemium", "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 (server, CLI and desktop app). Ollama Cloud is a closed service under the ollama.com terms, and each model carries its own licence", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "no", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-29", "b": "2026-10-01", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "2026-05-01", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "2026-03-01", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "", "b": "yes", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "2.6k stars, 105k npm/wk, 47k PyPI/wk", "b": "181k stars, 872k npm/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "none", "b": "2.5/5 (2)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against Ollama's 56.3 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Ollama leads on schema \u0026 documentation and agent ergonomics.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Foundry Local or Ollama?" }, { "answer": "No hosted endpoint is listed for Foundry Local. No hosted endpoint is listed for Ollama.", "question": "Can an agent call Foundry Local and Ollama 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). Ollama is open source (MIT (server, CLI and desktop app). Ollama Cloud is a closed service under the ollama.com terms, and each model carries its own licence).", "question": "Are Foundry Local and Ollama open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 68 against 53", "Security \u0026 auth, 39 against 28", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 88 against 81", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 72 against 59" ], "also": [ "No incidents deducted, where Ollama loses 4 points for them" ], "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": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 79 against 53", "Agent ergonomics, 75 against 61" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "A person or an agent that wants an open model behind a local API with one install, and for pointing Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode at local or cloud models.", "slug": "ollama", "watchFor": "No credential on the local API, and any caller that reaches it can pull, push, create and delete models" } ], "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-ollama.json", "title": "AnythingLLM vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-ollama" }, { "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-ollama.json", "title": "Docker Model Runner vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-ollama" }, { "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-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/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-ollama.json", "title": "Core vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-ollama" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-ollama.json", "title": "GPT4All vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-ollama" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-ollama.json", "title": "Jan vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-ollama" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-ollama.json", "title": "Khoj vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-ollama" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-ollama.json", "title": "KoboldCpp vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-ollama" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-ollama.json", "title": "Lemonade vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-ollama" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-ollama.json", "title": "llama.cpp vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-ollama" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-ollama.json", "title": "LM Studio vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-ollama" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-ollama.json", "title": "LocalAI vs Ollama", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-ollama" }, { "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/ollama-vs-open-webui.json", "title": "Ollama vs Open WebUI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-open-webui" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-screenpipe.json", "title": "Ollama vs screenpipe", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-screenpipe" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-text-generation-webui.json", "title": "Ollama vs TextGen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-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/ollama-vs-underdog.json", "title": "Ollama vs Underdog", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-underdog" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 15, "edge": "foundry-local", "foundry-local": 68, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "ollama": 53, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 26, "edge": "ollama", "foundry-local": 53, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "ollama": 79, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 14, "edge": "ollama", "foundry-local": 61, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "ollama": 75, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 11, "edge": "foundry-local", "foundry-local": 39, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "ollama": 28, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 0, "edge": "", "foundry-local": 60, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "ollama": 60, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 7, "edge": "foundry-local", "foundry-local": 88, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "ollama": 81, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 13, "edge": "foundry-local", "foundry-local": 72, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "ollama": 59, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against Ollama's 56.3 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Ollama leads on schema \u0026 documentation and agent ergonomics. 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.", "ollama": "An OpenAPI 3.1 file for the 15 native operations and llms.txt with 68 links to Markdown pages. No credential on the local API, and any caller that reaches it can pull, push, create and delete models." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ollama", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ollama.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ollama.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ollama.min.md" }, "markdown": "Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against Ollama's 56.3 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Ollama leads on schema \u0026 documentation and agent ergonomics. 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- Ollama: grade C, 56.3/100, rank #570 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ollama.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ollama.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- Reliability, 68 against 53\n- Security \u0026 auth, 39 against 28\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 88 against 81\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 72 against 59\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No incidents deducted, where Ollama loses 4 points for them\n\nWatch for: The local server takes no credential, and its routes include model load and unload and `POST /shutdown`\n\n### Ollama (C)\n\nGood for: A person or an agent that wants an open model behind a local API with one install, and for pointing Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode at local or cloud models.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 79 against 53\n- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 61\n\nWatch for: No credential on the local API, and any caller that reaches it can pull, push, create and delete models\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Foundry Local | Ollama | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 68 | 53 | Foundry Local +15 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 79 | Ollama +26 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 61 | 75 | Ollama +14 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 39 | 28 | Foundry Local +11 |\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 | 81 | Foundry Local +7 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 59 | Foundry Local +13 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |\n| **Total** | | **60.5 · C** | **56.3 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Foundry Local | Ollama |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | SDK + MCP | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Microsoft | Ollama Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | None | None |\n| Pricing | Free | Freemium |\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 (server, CLI and desktop app). Ollama Cloud is a closed service under the ollama.com terms, and each model carries its own licence |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-09-29 | 2026-10-01 |\n| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-05-01 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-03-01 |\n| Customer content may train models | | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | | yes |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | | yes |\n| Popularity | 2.6k stars, 105k npm/wk, 47k PyPI/wk | 181k stars, 872k npm/wk |\n| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (2) |\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**Ollama.** An OpenAPI 3.1 file for the 15 native operations and llms.txt with 68 links to Markdown pages. No credential on the local API, and any caller that reaches it can pull, push, create and delete models.\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### Ollama\n\n1. Send `\"stream\": false` for one JSON body. The native routes stream NDJSON by default\n2. Set `OLLAMA_CONTEXT_LENGTH=64000` or `options.num_ctx` before agent work. The default is 4k below 24 GiB of VRAM\n3. Back off on a 503. It means the queue (512 by default) is full\n4. Put an authenticating proxy in front before binding past 127.0.0.1. The server checks no credential\n5. Expect model names with a `cloud` tag to run on Ollama's servers. They need `ollama signin` and fail with `OLLAMA_NO_CLOUD=1`\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Foundry Local or Ollama?\n\nFoundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against Ollama's 56.3 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Ollama leads on schema \u0026 documentation and agent ergonomics.\n\n### Can an agent call Foundry Local and Ollama without installing anything?\n\nNo hosted endpoint is listed for Foundry Local. No hosted endpoint is listed for Ollama.\n\n### Are Foundry Local and Ollama 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). Ollama is open source (MIT (server, CLI and desktop app). Ollama Cloud is a closed service under the ollama.com terms, and each model carries its own licence).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ollama.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ollama.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"foundry-local\", \"b\": \"ollama\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare foundry-local ollama`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/foundry-local.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ollama.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Foundry Local or Ollama\n\n- [AnythingLLM vs Foundry Local](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-foundry-local.md)\n- [AnythingLLM vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-ollama.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 Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-ollama.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 MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-mlx-lm.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 Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-ollama.md)\n- [GPT4All vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-ollama.md)\n- [Jan vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-ollama.md)\n- [Khoj vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-ollama.md)\n- [KoboldCpp vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-ollama.md)\n- [Lemonade vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-ollama.md)\n- [llama.cpp vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-ollama.md)\n- [LM Studio vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-ollama.md)\n- [LocalAI vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-ollama.md)\n- [MLX LM vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-ollama.md)\n- [Ollama vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-open-webui.md)\n- [Ollama vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-screenpipe.md)\n- [Ollama vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-text-generation-webui.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-underdog.md)\n- [Ollama vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-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 Ollama", "url": "" } ], "description": "Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against Ollama's 56.3 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Ollama leads on schema \u0026 documentation and agent ergonomics. Both do local inference. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Foundry Local C 60.5", "Ollama C 56.3", "scores" ], "h1": "Foundry Local vs Ollama", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-foundry-local-vs-ollama.png", "path": "/compare/foundry-local-vs-ollama", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Foundry Local vs Ollama for AI agents, C 60.5 vs C 56.3", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-ollama" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2650, "slim": 730 }, "version": 1 }