# llama.cpp vs Ollama

> llama.cpp has a score of 60.2 (C) against Ollama's 56.6 (C). Both do local inference. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 32 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-ollama
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-ollama.md (~1,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-ollama.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-ollama.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: 2026-10-05

llama.cpp has a score of 60.2 (C) against Ollama's 56.6 (C). Both do local inference. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 32 points.

- llama.cpp: grade C, 60.2/100, rank #253 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/llama-cpp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/llama-cpp.json
- Ollama: grade C, 56.6/100, rank #302 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ollama.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ollama.json

## Which one, for what

Pick llama.cpp for reliability (+11), security & auth (+24).

Pick Ollama for schema & documentation (+32).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | llama.cpp | Ollama | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 64 | 53 | llama.cpp +11 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 47 | 79 | Ollama +32 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 73 | 75 | Ollama +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 52 | 28 | llama.cpp +24 |
| 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) | 81 | 81 | even |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 63 | Ollama +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -1 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **60.2 · C** | **56.6 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | llama.cpp | Ollama |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | ggml.ai (Hugging Face) | Ollama Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT (server, CLI and desktop app). Ollama Cloud is a closed service under the ollama.com terms, and each model carries its own licence |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-23 | 2026-10-01 |
| Popularity | 130k stars | 181k stars, 872k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | 2.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**llama.cpp.** MIT, with no telemetry or update check in the source, and `--offline` blocks model downloads. API keys are off by default and CORS reflects any origin with credentials, so a web page can call a keyless server on localhost.

**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.

## Before you call either

### llama.cpp

1. Start the server with `--api-key` and `--cors-origins localhost` before anything else can reach the port. Both are off by default
2. Pass `n_predict` or `max_tokens`. Generation is unbounded by default
3. Send `response_fields` to /completion to drop the fields you don't read
4. Wait and retry on a 503 `unavailable_error`. The model is still loading
5. Read the server README of the build you run. Behaviour changes between nightly builds without a changelog entry

### Ollama

1. Send `"stream": false` for one JSON body. The native routes stream NDJSON by default
2. Set `OLLAMA_CONTEXT_LENGTH=64000` or `options.num_ctx` before agent work. The default is 4k below 24 GiB of VRAM
3. Back off on a 503. It means the queue (512 by default) is full
4. Put an authenticating proxy in front before binding past 127.0.0.1. The server checks no credential
5. Expect model names with a `cloud` tag to run on Ollama's servers. They need `ollama signin` and fail with `OLLAMA_NO_CLOUD=1`

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