# Foundry Local vs PrivateGPT

> Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) to PrivateGPT's 53.2 (D) for local inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-privategpt
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-privategpt.md (~4,950 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against PrivateGPT's 53.2 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. PrivateGPT leads on schema & documentation. Both do local inference.

- Foundry Local: grade C, 60.5/100, rank #649 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/foundry-local.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/foundry-local.json
- PrivateGPT: grade D, 53.2/100, rank #960 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/privategpt.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/privategpt.json
- Best local AI models and assistants: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/local-ai/index.md
- All 280 local ai comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/local-ai/index.md

## 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:
- Security & auth, 39 against 32
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 41
- Transparency & trust, 73 against 64

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card
- No incidents deducted, where PrivateGPT loses 7 points for them

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

### PrivateGPT (D)

Good for: A local backend for apps and agents that want an Anthropic-style API with document retrieval, citations and tools over local models.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 83 against 53

Watch for: Authentication is off by default, the server binds 0.0.0.0 and CORS allows every origin


## Why the edge

### Maintenance & community: Foundry Local +47

- Foundry Local (88): SDK 2.2.1 tagged on 21 October 2026, NuGet's Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local 2.3.0 on 31 October and 2.3.1 on 2 November, and CLI preview 0.13.0 tagged on 2 November (30). Since 6 August, v2.0.1, v2.1.0 and v2.2.1 tags, NuGet 2.2.0, 2.3.0 and 2.3.1, and CLI previews 0.10.3 to 0.13.0 (20). Commits on main to 3 November. Issue replies and SUPPORT.md per the 8 October check, not re-read on 4 November (15 of 25). Current SDKs on npm, PyPI, NuGet and crates.io per the 8 October check, with NuGet re-read on 4 November (15). Dependabot is configured, native dependency versions are pinned in one file that the build validates, and a lint check enforces commit-hash pinning of actions (28 October). We couldn't see CI results (8 of 10).
- PrivateGPT (41): The last release is 1.0.1, dated 16 June 2026 in the changelog and tagged 18 June, 141 days before the check (10 of 30). No release or dated changelog entry in the 90 days since 8 August (0 of 20). Maintainers commit most days and outside pull requests merged in October, but 23 pull requests are open and the stale bot closes issues, including two security reports, with no maintainer reply (13 of 25). Homebrew tap, wheel index and Docker images ship with releases, and Anthropic SDKs work against it. No product MCP server of its own, though it connects to remote MCP servers (10 of 15). Dependabot, uv.lock, actions pinned by commit since 19 October and dependency CVE upgrades in June, July and August (8 of 10). 10 + 0 + 13 + 10 + 8 = 41.

### Schema & documentation: PrivateGPT +30

- Foundry Local (53): Read with the API lines, for the local server and the SDKs. No OpenAPI file in the repository or the docs. The server follows OpenAI's shapes and the SDKs are typed (8 of 25). Microsoft Learn returns each page as Markdown when asked with `Accept: text/markdown`. No llms.txt on learn.microsoft.com or foundrylocal.ai (6 of 10). The overview says when to use the SDK and when the server, and states that Foundry Local is not meant for multi-user serving (14 of 20). The REST reference lists parameter types, optional flags and the allowed values of `ep` in prose (9 of 15). 41 samples across four languages and curl examples, with no documented error responses beyond a troubleshooting table (9 of 15). Dated release notes on GitHub. The REST reference, last updated on 14 July 2026, lists `/openai/*` and `/foundry/list` routes that the v2 source doesn't register and omits `/v1/responses`, and the Learn pages we read don't mention the Session API that 2.0.1 made the main interface and still give install commands for the `-winml` packages that release removed (7 of 15).
- PrivateGPT (83): An OpenAPI file of 38 paths in the repository (fern/openapi/openapi.json, version 1.0.1), also served by each instance at /openapi.json, with the messages API modelled on Anthropic's (25). docs.privategpt.dev serves llms.txt, a Markdown copy of every page and a docs MCP server (10). The docs explain each endpoint group, startup and model discovery, and a compatibility table says which parts of the Claude API are supported, partial or missing, such as prompt caching and OAuth (15 of 20). Pydantic models with literal type discriminators and required fields, while settings and tool context are wide objects (12 of 15). curl examples for each guide and a `/v1/messages/validate` route, with error shapes not documented as a list (9 of 15). `/v1` paths and a dated changelog, though releases trail main by more than four months (12 of 15). 25 + 10 + 15 + 12 + 9 + 12 = 83.

### Transparency & trust: Foundry Local +9

- Foundry Local (73): The editorial half. The SDKs and the v2 native runtime are MIT in a public repository. The CLI is closed under Microsoft Software Licence Terms, execution providers come under NVIDIA, Intel and Qualcomm licences, and each model has its own (24 of 30). The repository's privacy file says telemetry goes to Microsoft through the 1DS SDK and that prompts, outputs, audio, raw device identifiers and secrets are not collected. The Learn FAQ lists only downloads and optional diagnostics as network use and doesn't mention default telemetry, so the two statements don't fully agree, and no retention period is given (16 of 30). The v2.0.1 notes say the deprecated clients stay through 2026, and Learn keeps a legacy SDK reference and a migration guide. There is no written deprecation policy (9 of 20). Telemetry is disclosed in the README and is on by default. A config option or `ORT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1` turns off non-essential telemetry, and what counts as essential isn't stated (14 of 20). The repository's privacy file now names `ORT_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1` for the opt-out (2 November, on main), replacing `ORT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED`, and a 15 October change sends a hashed device id and redacted configuration as essential telemetry under the opt-out.
- PrivateGPT (64): Apache-2.0 (30). The OpenAPI description says no data leaves the execution environment, but the docs list cloud gateways as model providers and web search goes to outside services when enabled, and no privacy statement covers the software. Zylon's privacy policy covers its website (15 of 30). The 1.0 rewrite was marked as a breaking change in the changelog, and there is no deprecation policy (6 of 20). No telemetry to Zylon found in the source. OpenTelemetry tracing is off by default and its exporters write local files or to the owner's collector, documented on the observability page (16 of 20). 30 + 15 + 6 + 16 = 67.

### Security & auth: Foundry Local +7

- Foundry Local (39): Read with the tool checklist, for the local server. No credential exists. The server is off until the application or the CLI starts it, binds to 127.0.0.1 by default, and the docs tell clients to set auth to None (8 of 30). No read-only mode. Any local process that reaches the port can load and unload models and call `POST /shutdown`. Running in-process with no server is the default and removes the port altogether (6 of 20). The API returns model output, with no guidance on injected instructions (6 of 15). `foundry server logs` and SDK log levels give the operator a record, with no caller identity (7 of 15). SECURITY.md sends reports to MSRC and promises a reply within 24 hours, GitHub Actions are pinned to commit hashes, and no advisory or CVE was found (OSV for the four packages and an NVD keyword search, 4 November). The security.txt on www.microsoft.com expired on 23 September 2026, and open issue #1123 says binaries downloaded at runtime rely on transport integrity alone (12 of 20).
- PrivateGPT (32): Read with the tool checklist. Authentication is off by default, and when on it is one static secret compared with the whole `Authorization` header, with a sample `secret:key` value in settings.yaml. There are no per-user keys or scopes, `private-gpt serve` binds 0.0.0.0 by default and CORS allows every origin, so a default start answers anyone on the network. The docs disagree on the header (Bearer, Basic or an Anthropic key) (6 of 30). Tools are chosen per request and code execution has internet off by default, but bash runs as a host subprocess with resource limits, not in a container, and nothing asks for approval (6 of 20). Web fetch, web search, documents and MCP servers bring untrusted text to the model. A public prompt-injection report (#2270) was closed by the stale bot, and no guidance was found beyond a 19 October change that bounds tool output (3 of 15). OpenTelemetry traces cover every request, model call, tool and sandbox step, off by default, with local JSON lines exporters (10 of 15). SECURITY.md since 23 July 2026 asks for private reports through GitHub or Discord. No bounty, no certification, and the June and July security reports in issues were closed by a bot with no reply (7 of 20). 6 + 6 + 3 + 10 + 7 = 32.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Foundry Local | PrivateGPT | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 68 | 70 | PrivateGPT +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 83 | PrivateGPT +30 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 61 | 64 | PrivateGPT +3 |
| 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 | 41 | Foundry Local +47 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 64 | Foundry Local +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -7 | |
| **Total** | | **60.5 · C** | **53.2 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Foundry Local | PrivateGPT |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | SDK + MCP | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Microsoft | Zylon (PriBAI Technology Spain S.L.) |
| 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 | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-18 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 2.6k stars, 105k npm/wk, 47k PyPI/wk | 58k stars |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Foundry Local

- no change on 27 October 2026: checklist

### PrivateGPT

No score change since it was listed.

## 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.

**PrivateGPT.** PrivateGPT 1.0 is an Apache-2.0 server that gives local models an Anthropic-style messages API with retrieval, citations, tools and MCP, documented by an OpenAPI file and llms.txt. A default start has authentication off, listens on every interface and reads local paths given as URIs, and a public report of that was closed without a reply.

## 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

### PrivateGPT

1. Turn on `server.auth` and bind to 127.0.0.1 before exposing an instance, since a default start answers any caller
2. Point Anthropic SDKs or Claude Code at the server with `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080`
3. Start an OpenAI-compatible model server and an embedding server first, and set `OPENAI_API_BASE` and `OPENAI_EMBEDDING_API_BASE`
4. Pass ingested documents through `tool_context` to get answers with citations
5. Treat web fetch, search and MCP results as untrusted, since PrivateGPT documents no prompt-injection handling

## Questions

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

Foundry Local scores 60.5 (C) on agent readiness against PrivateGPT's 53.2 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. PrivateGPT leads on schema & documentation.

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

No hosted endpoint is listed for Foundry Local. No hosted endpoint is listed for PrivateGPT.

### Are Foundry Local and PrivateGPT 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). PrivateGPT is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Foundry Local or PrivateGPT

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

---

Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp