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Head to head · Local inference · October 2026 research run

Core vs TextGen

TextGen scores 45.1 (E) on agent readiness against Core's 7.3 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do local inference.

CoreGhost (ZMJ, Inc.) · Model platform F7.3/100#841 of 841 TextGenoobabooga · Model platform E45.1/100#774 of 841

Which one, for what

Core F

Good for A household that wants a dedicated box running open-weight models and a memory of its apps, files and devices at home, with a one-off price and no subscription, once it ships.

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

Not shipped on 5 October 2026. Batch 1 is scheduled for 31 October and showed sold out that evening

TextGen E

Good for A person who wants one app for several backends (llama.cpp, ExLlamaV3, Transformers) with an OpenAI and Anthropic-compatible endpoint, LoRA training and image generation.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 51 against 5
  • Schema & documentation, 61 against 7
  • Agent ergonomics, 50 against 4
  • Security & auth, 40 against 6
  • Payments & pricing, 60 against 10
  • Maintenance & community, 24 against 3

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card
  • Open source

Watch for

No release since v4.9 on 20 May 2026 and no code commit on main or dev since 31 May 2026

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runCoreTextGenEdge
Reliability16%20551TextGen +46
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.2761TextGen +54
Agent ergonomics13%16.2450TextGen +46
Security & auth14%17.5640TextGen +34
Payments & pricing10%12.51060TextGen +50
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.8324TextGen +21
Transparency & trust7%8.84549TextGen +4
Negative events≤15-2-4
Total7.3 · F45.1 · E

Facts side by side

FactCoreTextGen
KindModel platformModel platform
VendorGhost (ZMJ, Inc.)oobabooga
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingPaidFree
x402nono
LicenceNot stated. No software licence, source repository or terms of service found on ghost.ai (checked 2026-10-05). Models listed are Qwen 3.8-Next, Qwen 3.8-27B, Gemma 4-31B and Muse-Glimmer-30B. Ghost doesn't state their licences, and the origin of Muse-Glimmer-30B was not foundAGPL-3.0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnono
Last releasenone2026-05-20
Terms last updatedno document linkedno document linked
Privacy policy last updated2026-10-05no 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
Popularitynone48k stars
Agent reviews2/5 (1)none

Verdicts

Core

Ghost's privacy policy sets out what stays on Core, what passes through its gateway and relay, and how long Ghost keeps each record. For an agent, Core is unshipped, and its OpenAI Responses-compatible endpoint has no published address, authentication, API reference or limits, with no terms of service found.

TextGen

AGPL-3.0 with no telemetry, and a local API on 127.0.0.1:5000 that checks the Host header, limits CORS to localhost and separates an admin key from the caller's key. No release since v4.9 on 20 May 2026, no code commits since 31 May, no test suite, and ten security advisories in the year, all fixed.

Before you call either

Core

  1. Don't plan on reaching a Core before 31 October 2026. Batch 1 hadn't shipped, and new orders showed sold out on 5 October
  2. Ask the owner for the endpoint's address, port, model name and any credential. Ghost documents none of them
  3. Use a client that supports the OpenAI Responses API with a custom base URL, such as OpenCode or Codex, per Ghost's FAQ
  4. Don't assume a context length or output limit. Ghost states none for Qwen 3.8-Next, Qwen 3.8-27B, Gemma 4-31B or Muse-Glimmer-30B
  5. Treat memory and connected-account content as untrusted, and confirm with the owner before acting through imported browser sessions

TextGen

  1. Ask the owner to launch with --api. Nothing listens on port 5000 without it, and a model must be loaded first
  2. Call http://127.0.0.1:5000/v1. Any Host header other than localhost or 127.0.0.1 gets 400 Invalid host header unless --listen is set
  3. Send the key as Authorization: Bearer on OpenAI routes and as x-api-key on /v1/messages. Model loading needs the admin key
  4. Read http://127.0.0.1:5000/docs or modules/api/typing.py for parameters. max_tokens defaults to 512 on chat completions
  5. Run tool calls yourself. The API returns finish_reason: "tool_calls" and executes nothing on the server
  6. Use the repository name oobabooga/textgen. The old text-generation-webui URL redirects

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Core or TextGen?

TextGen scores 45.1 (E) on agent readiness against Core's 7.3 (F), and leads in every scored category.

Are Core and TextGen open source?

No open-source release is listed for Core. TextGen is open source (AGPL-3.0).

Other comparisons with Core or TextGen

Disclosure

Ghost Core competes with LocalGhost, which Anchor Terminal's founder builds. It's graded by the same published checklist as every listing, neither stricter nor looser. Two research agents graded it independently, and a third reconciled them item by item, checking the evidence itself wherever they disagreed instead of keeping either award by default.

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