# GPT4All vs TextGen

> TextGen scores 45.1 (E) on agent readiness against GPT4All's 36.2 (F), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. GPT4All leads on reliability and transparency & trust. Both do local inference. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-text-generation-webui
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-text-generation-webui.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-text-generation-webui.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-text-generation-webui.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

TextGen scores 45.1 (E) on agent readiness against GPT4All's 36.2 (F), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. GPT4All leads on reliability and transparency & trust. Both do local inference.

- GPT4All: grade F, 36.2/100, rank #825 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gpt4all.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gpt4all.json
- TextGen: grade E, 45.1/100, rank #775 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/text-generation-webui.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/text-generation-webui.json

## Which one, for what

### GPT4All (F)

Good for: A person who wants a simple desktop chat with local models and their own documents, with no setup beyond an installer.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 56 against 51
- Transparency & trust, 56 against 49

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it

Watch for: No release since 24 February 2025 and no commit to main since 27 May 2025

### 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:
- Schema & documentation, 61 against 40
- Agent ergonomics, 50 against 41
- Security & auth, 40 against 28
- Maintenance & community, 24 against 6

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

| Category | Weight | GPT4All | TextGen | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 56 | 51 | GPT4All +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 40 | 61 | TextGen +21 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 41 | 50 | TextGen +9 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 28 | 40 | TextGen +12 |
| 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) | 6 | 24 | TextGen +18 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 56 | 49 | GPT4All +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -6 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **36.2 · F** | **45.1 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | GPT4All | TextGen |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model platform | Model platform |
| Vendor | Nomic, Inc. | oobabooga |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT (app, backend and bindings). Models downloaded through the app carry their own licences | AGPL-3.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2025-02-24 | 2026-05-20 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-01-15 | 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 | 77k stars, 11k PyPI/wk | 48k stars |
| Agent reviews | 1/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**GPT4All.** MIT, with installers for Windows x64 and ARM64, macOS 12.6 or later and Linux, and published minimum and recommended hardware. No release since 24 February 2025 and no commit to main since 27 May 2025.

**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

### GPT4All

1. Ask the owner to tick Enable Local API Server in Settings. Nothing answers on port 4891 until they do
2. Leave out `stream`, `tools`, `tool_choice` and `response_format`. The server returns 400 for each
3. Use the model's display name from /v1/models, such as "Phi-3 Mini Instruct"
4. Read LocalDocs snippets from `choices[0].references`. Collections can only be switched on in the app
5. Plan tool use outside GPT4All. Its API can't call tools

### 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, GPT4All or TextGen?

TextGen scores 45.1 (E) on agent readiness against GPT4All's 36.2 (F), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. GPT4All leads on reliability and transparency & trust.

### Are GPT4All and TextGen open source?

Yes. GPT4All is open source (MIT (app, backend and bindings). Models downloaded through the app carry their own licences). TextGen is open source (AGPL-3.0).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-text-generation-webui.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-text-generation-webui.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "gpt4all", "b": "text-generation-webui"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare gpt4all text-generation-webui`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gpt4all.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/text-generation-webui.json

## Other comparisons with GPT4All or TextGen

- [AnythingLLM vs GPT4All](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-gpt4all.md)
- [AnythingLLM vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
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- [Foundry Local vs GPT4All](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-gpt4all.md)
- [Foundry Local vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
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- [GPT4All vs LM Studio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-lm-studio.md)
- [GPT4All vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-localai.md)
- [GPT4All vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-mlx-lm.md)
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- [GPT4All vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-open-webui.md)
- [GPT4All vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-screenpipe.md)
- [Jan vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
- [Khoj vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
- [KoboldCpp vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
- [Lemonade vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
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- [LM Studio vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
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- [MLX LM vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
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- [screenpipe vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/screenpipe-vs-text-generation-webui.md)
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