{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "localai", "name": "LocalAI", "vendor": "Ettore Di Giacinto and the LocalAI team", "vendorUrl": "https://localai.io", "kind": "http-api", "category": "local-ai", "summary": "Open-source engine in Go, MIT licensed, that runs models on the owner's hardware behind OpenAI-, Anthropic-, Ollama- and ElevenLabs-compatible APIs on port 8080.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/localai", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/localai.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/localai.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/localai.json", "dns": "localai.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/mudler/LocalAI", "license": "MIT. Each backend image wraps an upstream engine (llama.cpp, vLLM, whisper.cpp, diffusers and others) under that engine's own licence", "transports": [ "http", "stdio" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "oci", "name": "docker.io/localai/localai" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "Off by default. With no keys and no user accounts configured, every request is accepted, and the server refuses to start on a public address in that state unless `--allow-insecure-public-bind` is set. `LOCALAI_API_KEY` sets shared keys with full admin rights. `LOCALAI_AUTH=true` turns on user accounts (local, GitHub OAuth or OIDC), and each user creates revocable keys stored as HMAC-SHA256, with an optional expiry in the source, carrying the user's role (admin or user) and per-model and per-feature permissions. Keys go in `Authorization: Bearer`, `x-api-key`, `xi-api-key` or a `token` cookie.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free and MIT with nothing to buy. You run it on your own hardware. The project takes sponsorship through GitHub Sponsors.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs or the source (checked 2026-10-03).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 42, "popularity": { "githubStars": 47800, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-03" }, "docsUrl": "https://localai.io/basics/getting_started/", "openapi": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mudler/LocalAI/master/swagger/swagger.json", "capabilities": [ "inference.local", "inference.open-weights", "agent.mcp-client", "embed.text", "rerank", "speech.stt", "speech.tts", "voice.speech-to-speech", "image.generate", "video.generate", "guard.pii", "finetune.sft", "db.vector" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "local", "self-hosted", "free", "no-card", "openai-compatible", "openapi", "mcp", "go", "docker", "streaming", "open-weights", "no-telemetry" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-23", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 62.5, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 554, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1486, "categoryRank": 3, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 71, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 60, "reliability": 84, "schema": 81, "security": 62, "transparency": 53 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-01" }, "negative": -9, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-07-07. CVE-2026-59707 (8.6 at NVD under CVSS 3.1, published by VulnCheck), an unauthenticated server-side request forgery through POST /models/apply in v4.3.1 and earlier, reported in issue #10665. The code now refuses private, loopback and metadata addresses in gallery config fetches, with a comment citing the issue, from v4.8.0 at the latest. The project published no GitHub advisory, the fix commit NVD and VulnCheck name (f9b968e) is an unrelated docs change, and SECURITY.md still lists 3.x as the supported series. Fixed, documented only by a third party, -3. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-59707; https://github.com/mudler/LocalAI/issues/10665", "2026-08-20. v4.9.0, a minor release, fixed a class of authentication bypass reported by Naor Yaacov. With API keys or accounts configured, alias routes such as /mcp/chat/completions, /moderations, /models, /backends and /import-model had no global authentication, because the middleware protected path prefixes only. The release write-up describes the flaw the day it shipped, and no GitHub advisory or CVE from the project was found. Fixed, with no advisory, -3. The same change made /version and generated-file URLs need credentials when auth is on; that is the fix closing access the configured auth was meant to cover, so it takes no separate breaking-change term. https://localai.io/blog/what-landed-in-localai-4-9/", "2026-10-21. CVE-2026-114493 (8.6 at NVD under CVSS 3.1 and 9.2 under CVSS 4.0, published by VulnCheck), a server-side request forgery in v4.6.0 through v4.11.0. The gallery config fetch behind POST /models/apply validates only the first URL, so a redirect can reach internal or cloud metadata addresses, a bypass of the guard added for CVE-2026-59707. VulnCheck names pull request #12791 as the fix, and no commit from it is on master on 1 November 2026. The redirect check released in v4.12.1 on 23 October (#12853) covers image, audio and video downloads, and the gallery download client still follows redirects without it. No advisory from the project was found. Documented only by a third party, with no released fix confirmed, -3. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-114493" ], "verdict": "MIT and Go, with Docker images for CUDA 12 and 13, ROCm, Intel oneAPI, Vulkan, Jetson and CPU, Linux binaries and a macOS app. No authentication by default. Loopback, LAN and VPN binds answer every caller, and keys set by environment variable grant full admin.", "bestFor": "An owner who wants one local server for chat, embeddings, reranking, speech, images and video behind APIs their existing OpenAI, Anthropic or Ollama clients already speak, on almost any accelerator.", "strengths": [ "MIT and Go, with Docker images for CUDA 12 and 13, ROCm, Intel oneAPI, Vulkan, Jetson and CPU, Linux binaries and a macOS app", "OpenAI, Anthropic, Open Responses, Ollama and ElevenLabs-compatible endpoints, with a Swagger 2.0 file of 151 operations served by every instance", "429 and 503 responses carry Retry-After, and errors come in the calling client's own envelope", "Optional user accounts with hashed, revocable keys, per-model and per-capability permissions and per-user quotas", "v4.12.1 on 23 October 2026 and eight releases in the 90 days from 3 August" ], "weaknesses": [ "No authentication by default. Loopback, LAN and VPN binds answer every caller, and keys set by environment variable grant full admin", "CVE-2026-59707 (unauthenticated SSRF, July 2026) and v4.9.0's alias-route authentication bypass (August 2026) were fixed with no advisory from the project", "SECURITY.md still names 3.x as the supported series, and there's no security.txt or privacy policy", "The MCP admin server registers 42 tools against the 19 its docs list, with no annotations, and its writes are held back only by a prompt", "No breaking-change section in the release notes, and the unsigned macOS DMG needs its quarantine flag removed by hand" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send `Authorization: Bearer \u003ckey\u003e` when the operator has set keys. A 401 means the instance has auth on", "Read /.well-known/localai.json and /api/instructions first. Both answer without a key and list what this instance can do", "Back off on 429 and 503 for the Retry-After seconds. A 503 can mean the model is still loading", "Start `local-ai mcp-server` with `--read-only` unless the task is to install or delete models", "Take model names from /v1/models. Each instance names its own" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 62.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 71, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 60, "reliability": 84, "schema": 81, "security": 62, "transparency": 67 }, "provenanceScore": 39, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-01", "maintenance": "2026-11-01", "payments": "2026-11-01", "reliability": "2026-11-01", "schema": "2026-11-01", "security": "2026-11-01", "transparency": "2026-11-01" }, "last": "2026-11-01", "lastMoved": "2026-11-01", "oldest": "2026-11-01", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "docker run -ti --name local-ai -p 8080:8080 localai/localai:latest", "http": "curl http://localhost:8080/v1/chat/completions -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" -d '{\n \"model\": \"qwen3-4b\",\n \"messages\": [{\"role\": \"user\", \"content\": \"Hello!\"}]\n}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.local", "tool": "https://letme.dev/localai" }, "area": "models", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "", "domain": "localai.io", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/mudler/LocalAI/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-03", "notes": [ "No company is named. The `LICENSE` copyright line reads Ettore Di Giacinto, and the README names him as project lead with Richard Palethorpe as maintainer.", "We found no terms or privacy page in the docs site's source, and localai.io/.well-known/security.txt and localai.io/llms.txt return 404.", "There's no hosted endpoint. Each instance answers on the operator's own host, by default port 8080." ], "score": 39 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/localai.json", "live": { "slug": "localai", "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "mudler/LocalAI", "version": "v4.12.1", "released": "2026-10-23", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:41:08.916894648Z" } ], "githubStars": 50232, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://localai.io/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:01:23.886601789Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "localai.io", "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T14:14:48.441948388Z" }, "github": { "repo": "mudler/localai", "checkedAt": "2026-11-02T09:09:09.394077173Z", "stars": 50131, "archived": false, "issuesEnabled": true, "pushedAt": "2026-11-02T08:30:57Z", "openIssues": 104, "openPRs": 103, "issuesOpened90d": 134, "issuesClosed90d": 100, "prsMerged90d": 889, "ci": { "branch": "master", "runs": 50, "success": 48, "failure": 2, "other": 0, "latest": "success", "latestAt": "2026-11-02T08:03:37Z" }, "replies": { "sampled": 25, "unanswered": 14, "medianDays": 0.4 } }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T16:01:23.886601789Z" } }, "answer": "LocalAI scores 62.5 (B) on agent readiness against PrivateGPT's 53.2 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. PrivateGPT leads on transparency \u0026 trust.", "b": { "slug": "privategpt", "name": "PrivateGPT", "vendor": "Zylon (PriBAI Technology Spain S.L.)", "vendorUrl": "https://docs.privategpt.dev", "kind": "http-api", "category": "local-ai", "summary": "PrivateGPT is Zylon's open-source server that puts an Anthropic-style messages API, document ingestion, retrieval with citations, built-in tools and MCP connectors in front of any OpenAI-compatible local model server. The owner runs it.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/privategpt", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/privategpt.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/privategpt.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/privategpt.json", "dns": "privategpt.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/zylon-ai/private-gpt", "license": "Apache-2.0", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "oci", "name": "zylonai/private-gpt" } ], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "Authentication is off by default. When `server.auth.enabled` is set, every request must carry one static secret in the `Authorization` header, compared with the whole header value. There are no per-user keys, scopes or rotation, and the docs show it as a Bearer token, a Basic value and an Anthropic API key in different places (checked 2026-11-06).", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free under Apache-2.0 with no account or card. The cost is the owner's hardware and model server. Zylon sells a separate enterprise platform built on PrivateGPT through demos, with no public price (checked 2026-11-06).", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the source, the OpenAPI file or the docs (checked 2026-11-06).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 57600, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-11-06" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.privategpt.dev/introduction", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.privategpt.dev/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zylon-ai/private-gpt/main/fern/openapi/openapi.json", "capabilities": [ "inference.local", "memory.search", "agent.mcp-client" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "local", "self-hosted", "docker", "openapi", "llms-txt", "rag", "mcp-client", "anthropic-compatible", "python", "free" ], "lastRelease": "2026-06-18", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 53.2, "grade": "D", "agentReady": false, "rank": 954, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1486, "categoryRank": 11, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 64, "maintenance": 41, "payments": 60, "reliability": 70, "schema": 83, "security": 32, "transparency": 64 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-06" }, "negative": -7, "negativeNotes": [ "Issue #2269, opened 11 June 2026, reports that the async ingestion API reads any local path given as a URI artifact. The stale bot closed it as not planned on 5 July with no maintainer reply, and `load_file_from_uri` in the source of 29 October 2026 still falls back to reading a local file for any value that isn't a URL, s3 or base64. With authentication off and a 0.0.0.0 bind by default, that is an open file-read path on a default install. Read from the source, not run (-7). https://github.com/zylon-ai/private-gpt/issues/2269" ], "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "A local backend for apps and agents that want an Anthropic-style API with document retrieval, citations and tools over local models.", "strengths": [ "Messages API modelled on Anthropic's, so Claude Code and Anthropic SDKs work by changing the base URL", "OpenAPI file of 38 paths, llms.txt and Markdown copies of every docs page", "Retrieval with citations, async ingestion, web, database and tabular tools, and remote MCP servers in one API", "Apache-2.0, with no telemetry to Zylon found in the source and OpenTelemetry tracing off by default", "Works with Ollama, llama.cpp, vLLM, LM Studio or any OpenAI-compatible server" ], "weaknesses": [ "Authentication is off by default, the server binds 0.0.0.0 and CORS allows every origin", "When on, authentication is one shared static secret, with no per-user keys or scopes", "A June 2026 report of local file reads through URI artifacts was closed by a stale bot, and the source still reads local paths", "No release since 1.0.1 in June 2026 while main has moved on, including a breaking change", "Code execution runs as a host subprocess with resource limits, not in a container" ], "agentNotes": [ "Turn on `server.auth` and bind to 127.0.0.1 before exposing an instance, since a default start answers any caller", "Point Anthropic SDKs or Claude Code at the server with `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080`", "Start an OpenAI-compatible model server and an embedding server first, and set `OPENAI_API_BASE` and `OPENAI_EMBEDDING_API_BASE`", "Pass ingested documents through `tool_context` to get answers with citations", "Treat web fetch, search and MCP results as untrusted, since PrivateGPT documents no prompt-injection handling" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "D", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 53.2 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 64, "maintenance": 41, "payments": 60, "reliability": 70, "schema": 83, "security": 32, "transparency": 67 }, "provenanceScore": 61, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-06", "maintenance": "2026-11-06", "payments": "2026-11-06", "reliability": "2026-11-06", "schema": "2026-11-06", "security": "2026-11-06", "transparency": "2026-11-06" }, "last": "2026-11-06", "oldest": "2026-11-06", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "brew tap zylon-ai/tap\nbrew install private-gpt", "http": "curl http://localhost:8080/v1/messages \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"model\": \"qwen3.5:35b\", \"messages\": [{\"role\": \"user\", \"content\": \"Explain retrieval-augmented generation.\"}]}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.local", "tool": "https://letme.dev/privategpt" }, "area": "models", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "PriBAI Technology Spain S.L.", "domain": "privategpt.dev", "domainRegistered": "2023-10-16", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://github.com/zylon-ai/private-gpt/blob/main/LICENSE", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/zylon-ai/private-gpt/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-11-06", "notes": [ "Self-hosted software with no hosted endpoint, so the Apache-2.0 licence stands in for terms and no privacy policy is scored.", "The zylon.ai terms name PriBAI Technology Spain S.L. (VAT ESB56550130) under Spanish law and cover the website and Zylon services. They forbid access through bots, scripts or scrapers, outside standard search engine or browser use. We read the terms and two public pages.", "RDAP gives privategpt.dev a registration date of 16 October 2023.", "docs.privategpt.dev/.well-known/security.txt and www.zylon.ai/.well-known/security.txt answer 404. SECURITY.md in the repository is the reporting route.", "docs.privategpt.dev and www.zylon.ai robots.txt allow our reader. wheels.privategpt.dev has no robots.txt (404)." ], "score": 61 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/privategpt.json", "live": { "slug": "privategpt", "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "zylon-ai/private-gpt", "version": "v1.0.1", "released": "2026-06-18", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:58:40.643071731Z" } ], "githubStars": 57632, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://privategpt.dev/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:59:53.351491852Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://docs.privategpt.dev/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:33:41.730243326Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zylon-ai/private-gpt/main/CHANGELOG.md", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:24:15.016082629Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "767d5dd99544" }, { "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zylon-ai/private-gpt/main/LICENSE", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:24:17.075442465Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "839fbbcddc72" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T15:59:53.351491852Z" } }, "edges": [ { "by": 39, "category": "maintenance", "leads": "localai", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "reasons": { "a": "v4.12.1 on 23 October 2026, after v4.12.0 on 22 October (30). Eight releases in the 90 days from 3 August, from v4.8.0 on 5 August to v4.12.1, all changing code (20). Recent bug reports carry an unconfirmed label, comment threads didn't render for our reader on 3 October, github.com refused us on 1 November, and a stale bot closes quiet issues after 95 days, per the 3 October check (15 of 25). No official MCP registry entry for `local-ai mcp-server` (a search for localai on 1 November returned three unrelated servers) and no LocalAI client SDK, though OpenAI, Anthropic and Ollama SDKs work against it (5 of 15). Renovate and daily bump workflows keep the backends current, and CI passes on master per the 3 October check (10).", "b": "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." }, "scores": { "a": 80, "b": 41 } }, { "by": 30, "category": "security", "leads": "localai", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "reasons": { "a": "Read with the tool checklist. Credentials are off until the operator sets them. With neither keys nor accounts the server answers every caller, and it refuses to start on a public address in that state unless `--allow-insecure-public-bind` is set, while loopback, LAN and VPN binds stay open. Keys from `LOCALAI_API_KEY` grant full admin. With `LOCALAI_AUTH`, users create their own keys, stored as HMAC-SHA256, revocable, pausable since v4.12.0 and with an optional expiry in the source, each carrying the user's role and per-model and per-capability permissions. No key in a query string (22 of 30). The user role reaches inference only, agents, skills and fine-tuning start off for new users, per-user quotas cap requests and tokens, and the MCP server has a `--read-only` mode. Its mutating tools are held back by a system-prompt rule alone, and the docs say there's no code-side preview or apply step (14 of 20). Agents and MCP tools bring web pages and tool output into the model, and we found no prompt-injection guidance. A PII redaction tier and a moderation endpoint exist (4 of 15). Traces, backend logs and per-user and per-key usage for admins, and Prometheus metrics at /metrics (13 of 15). SECURITY.md with security@localai.io, a 48-hour acknowledgement and Huntr, GitHub private reporting, gosec on every push and cosign-signed backend images. No bounty, no security.txt, SECURITY.md still calls 3.x the current series, backend integrity checks warn rather than refuse by default (`LOCALAI_REQUIRE_BACKEND_INTEGRITY`), no GitHub advisory for CVE-2026-59707, and none found for the alias-route authentication bypass fixed in v4.9.0 (9 of 20).", "b": "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." }, "scores": { "a": 62, "b": 32 } }, { "by": 14, "category": "reliability", "leads": "localai", "name": "Reliability", "reasons": { "a": "Read with the local-software lines, since LocalAI runs on the owner's hardware with no hosted service behind it. Docker Hub images per accelerator (CUDA 12 and 13, ROCm, Intel oneAPI, Vulkan, Jetson L4T and CPU), Linux binaries for amd64 and arm64 on GitHub releases, a Kubernetes guide and Go 1.26 for source builds. The macOS DMG isn't signed by Apple and needs its quarantine flag removed, and issue #11410 reports that the 4.8.0 DMG held 4.7.1 (18 of 20). The Tests workflow runs on every push to master and on pull requests, and its last 10 runs on master had passed on 3 October 2026, beside end-to-end, UI, AIO and gosec workflows, per the 3 October check, not re-read on 1 November (github.com refused us). Commits of 23 and 24 October fix failures on master (25). The issues tab showed 87 open and the repository header 113 on 3 October, not re-read on 1 November. Recent bug reports carry an unconfirmed label, among them a start-up warm-up that downloads over 1 GB each time (#11483) and pinned models unloaded after every request (#11101), and a stale bot closes issues after 95 quiet days, which keeps the count down (18 of 25). Semver tags with notes on every release, but no breaking-change section, and v4.9.0's new credential requirement on /version and generated-file URLs sat in the body of the notes (8 of 15). v4.12.1 on 23 October 2026, stable (15).", "b": "Read with the local-software lines, since PrivateGPT runs on the owner's hardware with no hosted service behind it. Homebrew tap, `uv tool install` from Zylon's own wheel index (not PyPI) and Docker Hub images `zylonai/private-gpt` 1.0.1 of 18 June 2026. Python 3.11 only, stated in pyproject.toml, and it needs a separate OpenAI-compatible model server (17 of 20). tests.yml runs format, lint, typecheck and the tests affected by each push on main, with the full suite of 217 test files on release pull requests. We couldn't see run results because the GitHub API refused us, and issue #2441 of 1 November reports the Claude spec update workflow failing (15 of 25). GitHub shows 3 open issues of about 1,250, because a stale bot closes quiet issues, two security reports among them, with no maintainer reply (12 of 25). release-please keeps a changelog with breaking changes marked, but no release has been cut since 1.0.1 while main carries 51 commits since 8 August, among them a breaking observability change of 23 October (11 of 15). Version 1.0.1 (15). 17 + 15 + 12 + 11 + 15 = 70." }, "scores": { "a": 84, "b": 70 } }, { "by": 11, "category": "transparency", "leads": "privategpt", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "reasons": { "a": "MIT, with each backend image carrying its upstream engine under that engine's licence (30). There's no privacy policy for localai.io or the software. The README and the overview say data never leaves the machine, and we found no telemetry in the source, but a default start fetches the gallery index from index.localai.io and probes model files to estimate their size, and nothing says what index.localai.io logs or keeps (12 of 30). Deprecated flags are marked in the CLI reference and still work, and SECURITY.md dates the end of 1.x and 2.x support, but it hasn't been updated for 3.x or 4.x (8 of 20). No telemetry or analytics library in the Go source, OpenTelemetry metrics stay on the instance, and the gallery fetches are documented with an offline cache. The start-up size probes aren't described as network calls anywhere we read (17 of 20).", "b": "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." }, "scores": { "a": 53, "b": 64 } }, { "by": 7, "category": "ergonomics", "leads": "localai", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "reasons": { "a": "Read with the API lines for the OpenAI-compatible surface an agent calls. Responses size through `max_tokens` and streaming, and the llama.cpp prompt cache has been on by default since 4.3.0. The MCP admin server is the heavier surface, 42 tools in about 6,300 characters of descriptions, and `--read-only` halves it to 21 (18 of 25). `limit` and `offset` or `starting_after` on some list endpoints, and a capability filter on installed models (14 of 20). Errors arrive in the caller's own envelope (OpenAI, Anthropic or Open Responses) with a type and a message, 401 adds WWW-Authenticate, and 429 and 503 carry Retry-After, with load progress while a model warms (18 of 20). No idempotency keys, and no readOnlyHint or destructiveHint on the MCP tools. Inference calls are stateless and safe to repeat, and Retry-After says when (9 of 20). One command starts a model (`local-ai run \u003cmodel\u003e`), and existing OpenAI, Anthropic and Ollama clients work unchanged, but there's no LocalAI client SDK (12 of 15).", "b": "Read for an HTTP API an agent calls on a local instance. Token counting, `top_k` style retrieval settings, citation output and response byte caps let a caller size context (18 of 25). Artifact listing by namespace and retrieval filters, with no documented cursor pagination (12 of 20). FastAPI validation errors name the field and the validate route checks a request before running it, but there is no error catalogue (12 of 20). Async messages and ingestion return task ids with status, cancel and delete routes. No idempotency keys were found (10 of 20). Anthropic SDKs and Claude Code work by pointing `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL` at the server, but a model server and an embedding server have to be configured first (12 of 15). 18 + 12 + 12 + 10 + 12 = 64." }, "scores": { "a": 71, "b": 64 } } ], "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Ettore Di Giacinto and the LocalAI team", "b": "Zylon (PriBAI Technology Spain S.L.)", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP, stdio", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "None", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Free", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "MIT. Each backend image wraps an upstream engine (llama.cpp, vLLM, whisper.cpp, diffusers and others) under that engine's own licence", "b": "Apache-2.0", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "42", "b": "none", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "no", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-23", "b": "2026-06-18", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "no date given", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not read yet", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not read yet", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not read yet", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not read yet", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not read yet", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "48k stars", "b": "58k stars", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "LocalAI scores 62.5 (B) on agent readiness against PrivateGPT's 53.2 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. PrivateGPT leads on transparency \u0026 trust.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, LocalAI or PrivateGPT?" }, { "answer": "LocalAI takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. PrivateGPT needs no key.", "question": "Do LocalAI and PrivateGPT need an API key?" }, { "answer": "LocalAI runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. No hosted endpoint is listed for PrivateGPT.", "question": "Can an agent call LocalAI and PrivateGPT without installing anything?" }, { "answer": "Yes. LocalAI is open source (MIT. Each backend image wraps an upstream engine (llama.cpp, vLLM, whisper.cpp, diffusers and others) under that engine's own licence). PrivateGPT is open source (Apache-2.0).", "question": "Are LocalAI and PrivateGPT open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 84 against 70", "Agent ergonomics, 71 against 64", "Security \u0026 auth, 62 against 32", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 80 against 41" ], "also": [ "Runs on your own machine", "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "An owner who wants one local server for chat, embeddings, reranking, speech, images and video behind APIs their existing OpenAI, Anthropic or Ollama clients already speak, on almost any accelerator.", "slug": "localai", "watchFor": "No authentication by default. Loopback, LAN and VPN binds answer every caller, and keys set by environment variable grant full admin" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Transparency \u0026 trust, 64 against 53" ], "also": [ "No key needed to call it" ], "goodFor": "A local backend for apps and agents that want an Anthropic-style API with document retrieval, citations and tools over local models.", "slug": "privategpt", "watchFor": "Authentication is off by default, the server binds 0.0.0.0 and CORS allows every origin" } ], "history": { "localai": [ { "causes": [ "event" ], "date": "2026-11-01", "delta": -6, "from": 68.5, "fromGrade": "B", "to": 62.5, "toGrade": "B" }, { "causes": [ "method" ], "date": "2026-10-27", "delta": 0.5, "from": 68, "fromGrade": "B", "to": 68.5, "toGrade": "B" } ], "privategpt": null }, "job": { "capability": "inference.local", "name": "Local inference" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-localai.json", "title": "AnythingLLM vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "AnythingLLM vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-localai.json", "title": "Berth vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "Berth vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-localai.json", "title": "BitRun vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "BitRun vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-localai.json", "title": "Docker Model Runner vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "Docker Model Runner vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-privategpt" }, { "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-privategpt.json", "title": "Foundry Local vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-localai.json", "title": "Core vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "Core vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-localai.json", "title": "GPT4All vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "GPT4All vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperqwen-vs-localai.json", "title": "HyperQwen vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperqwen-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperqwen-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "HyperQwen vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperqwen-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-localai.json", "title": "Jan vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "Jan vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-localai.json", "title": "Khoj vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-localai.json", "title": "KoboldCpp vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "KoboldCpp vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-localai.json", "title": "Lemonade vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "Lemonade vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-localai.json", "title": "llama.cpp vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "llama.cpp vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-localai.json", "title": "LM Studio vs LocalAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-localai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "LM Studio vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-mlx-lm.json", "title": "LocalAI vs MLX LM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-mlx-lm" }, { "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/localai-vs-open-webui.json", "title": "LocalAI vs Open WebUI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-open-webui" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-screenpipe.json", "title": "LocalAI vs screenpipe", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-screenpipe" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-text-generation-webui.json", "title": "LocalAI vs TextGen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-text-generation-webui" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-vllm.json", "title": "LocalAI vs vLLM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-vllm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "MLX LM vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "Ollama vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/open-webui-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "Open WebUI vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/open-webui-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/privategpt-vs-screenpipe.json", "title": "PrivateGPT vs screenpipe", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/privategpt-vs-screenpipe" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/privategpt-vs-text-generation-webui.json", "title": "PrivateGPT vs TextGen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/privategpt-vs-text-generation-webui" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/privategpt-vs-vllm.json", "title": "PrivateGPT vs vLLM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/privategpt-vs-vllm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "Khoj vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localghost-vs-privategpt.json", "title": "LocalGhost vs PrivateGPT", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localghost-vs-privategpt" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-underdog.json", "title": "LocalAI vs Underdog", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-underdog" } ], "panel": null, "scores": [ { "by": 14, "edge": "localai", "key": "reliability", "localai": 84, "name": "Reliability", "privategpt": 70, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 2, "edge": "privategpt", "key": "schema", "localai": 81, "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "privategpt": 83, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 7, "edge": "localai", "key": "ergonomics", "localai": 71, "name": "Agent ergonomics", "privategpt": 64, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 30, "edge": "localai", "key": "security", "localai": 62, "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "privategpt": 32, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 0, "edge": "", "key": "payments", "localai": 60, "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "privategpt": 60, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 39, "edge": "localai", "key": "maintenance", "localai": 80, "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "privategpt": 41, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 11, "edge": "privategpt", "key": "transparency", "localai": 53, "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "privategpt": 64, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "LocalAI scores 62.5 (B) on agent readiness against PrivateGPT's 53.2 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. PrivateGPT leads on transparency \u0026 trust. Both do local inference.", "tasks": null, "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "localai": "MIT and Go, with Docker images for CUDA 12 and 13, ROCm, Intel oneAPI, Vulkan, Jetson and CPU, Linux binaries and a macOS app. No authentication by default. Loopback, LAN and VPN binds answer every caller, and keys set by environment variable grant full admin.", "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." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-privategpt", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-privategpt.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-privategpt.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-privategpt.min.md" }, "markdown": "LocalAI scores 62.5 (B) on agent readiness against PrivateGPT's 53.2 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. PrivateGPT leads on transparency \u0026 trust. Both do local inference.\n\n- LocalAI: grade B, 62.5/100, rank #554 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/localai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/localai.json\n- PrivateGPT: grade D, 53.2/100, rank #954 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/privategpt.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/privategpt.json\n- Best local AI models and assistants: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/local-ai/index.md\n- All 280 local ai comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/local-ai/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### LocalAI (B)\n\nGood for: An owner who wants one local server for chat, embeddings, reranking, speech, images and video behind APIs their existing OpenAI, Anthropic or Ollama clients already speak, on almost any accelerator.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 84 against 70\n- Agent ergonomics, 71 against 64\n- Security \u0026 auth, 62 against 32\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 80 against 41\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Runs on your own machine\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: No authentication by default. Loopback, LAN and VPN binds answer every caller, and keys set by environment variable grant full admin\n\n### PrivateGPT (D)\n\nGood for: A local backend for apps and agents that want an Anthropic-style API with document retrieval, citations and tools over local models.\n\nAhead on:\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 64 against 53\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No key needed to call it\n\nWatch for: Authentication is off by default, the server binds 0.0.0.0 and CORS allows every origin\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Maintenance \u0026 community: LocalAI +39\n\n- LocalAI (80): v4.12.1 on 23 October 2026, after v4.12.0 on 22 October (30). Eight releases in the 90 days from 3 August, from v4.8.0 on 5 August to v4.12.1, all changing code (20). Recent bug reports carry an unconfirmed label, comment threads didn't render for our reader on 3 October, github.com refused us on 1 November, and a stale bot closes quiet issues after 95 days, per the 3 October check (15 of 25). No official MCP registry entry for `local-ai mcp-server` (a search for localai on 1 November returned three unrelated servers) and no LocalAI client SDK, though OpenAI, Anthropic and Ollama SDKs work against it (5 of 15). Renovate and daily bump workflows keep the backends current, and CI passes on master per the 3 October check (10).\n- 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.\n\n### Security \u0026 auth: LocalAI +30\n\n- LocalAI (62): Read with the tool checklist. Credentials are off until the operator sets them. With neither keys nor accounts the server answers every caller, and it refuses to start on a public address in that state unless `--allow-insecure-public-bind` is set, while loopback, LAN and VPN binds stay open. Keys from `LOCALAI_API_KEY` grant full admin. With `LOCALAI_AUTH`, users create their own keys, stored as HMAC-SHA256, revocable, pausable since v4.12.0 and with an optional expiry in the source, each carrying the user's role and per-model and per-capability permissions. No key in a query string (22 of 30). The user role reaches inference only, agents, skills and fine-tuning start off for new users, per-user quotas cap requests and tokens, and the MCP server has a `--read-only` mode. Its mutating tools are held back by a system-prompt rule alone, and the docs say there's no code-side preview or apply step (14 of 20). Agents and MCP tools bring web pages and tool output into the model, and we found no prompt-injection guidance. A PII redaction tier and a moderation endpoint exist (4 of 15). Traces, backend logs and per-user and per-key usage for admins, and Prometheus metrics at /metrics (13 of 15). SECURITY.md with security@localai.io, a 48-hour acknowledgement and Huntr, GitHub private reporting, gosec on every push and cosign-signed backend images. No bounty, no security.txt, SECURITY.md still calls 3.x the current series, backend integrity checks warn rather than refuse by default (`LOCALAI_REQUIRE_BACKEND_INTEGRITY`), no GitHub advisory for CVE-2026-59707, and none found for the alias-route authentication bypass fixed in v4.9.0 (9 of 20).\n- 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.\n\n### Reliability: LocalAI +14\n\n- LocalAI (84): Read with the local-software lines, since LocalAI runs on the owner's hardware with no hosted service behind it. Docker Hub images per accelerator (CUDA 12 and 13, ROCm, Intel oneAPI, Vulkan, Jetson L4T and CPU), Linux binaries for amd64 and arm64 on GitHub releases, a Kubernetes guide and Go 1.26 for source builds. The macOS DMG isn't signed by Apple and needs its quarantine flag removed, and issue #11410 reports that the 4.8.0 DMG held 4.7.1 (18 of 20). The Tests workflow runs on every push to master and on pull requests, and its last 10 runs on master had passed on 3 October 2026, beside end-to-end, UI, AIO and gosec workflows, per the 3 October check, not re-read on 1 November (github.com refused us). Commits of 23 and 24 October fix failures on master (25). The issues tab showed 87 open and the repository header 113 on 3 October, not re-read on 1 November. Recent bug reports carry an unconfirmed label, among them a start-up warm-up that downloads over 1 GB each time (#11483) and pinned models unloaded after every request (#11101), and a stale bot closes issues after 95 quiet days, which keeps the count down (18 of 25). Semver tags with notes on every release, but no breaking-change section, and v4.9.0's new credential requirement on /version and generated-file URLs sat in the body of the notes (8 of 15). v4.12.1 on 23 October 2026, stable (15).\n- PrivateGPT (70): Read with the local-software lines, since PrivateGPT runs on the owner's hardware with no hosted service behind it. Homebrew tap, `uv tool install` from Zylon's own wheel index (not PyPI) and Docker Hub images `zylonai/private-gpt` 1.0.1 of 18 June 2026. Python 3.11 only, stated in pyproject.toml, and it needs a separate OpenAI-compatible model server (17 of 20). tests.yml runs format, lint, typecheck and the tests affected by each push on main, with the full suite of 217 test files on release pull requests. We couldn't see run results because the GitHub API refused us, and issue #2441 of 1 November reports the Claude spec update workflow failing (15 of 25). GitHub shows 3 open issues of about 1,250, because a stale bot closes quiet issues, two security reports among them, with no maintainer reply (12 of 25). release-please keeps a changelog with breaking changes marked, but no release has been cut since 1.0.1 while main carries 51 commits since 8 August, among them a breaking observability change of 23 October (11 of 15). Version 1.0.1 (15). 17 + 15 + 12 + 11 + 15 = 70.\n\n### Transparency \u0026 trust: PrivateGPT +11\n\n- LocalAI (53): MIT, with each backend image carrying its upstream engine under that engine's licence (30). There's no privacy policy for localai.io or the software. The README and the overview say data never leaves the machine, and we found no telemetry in the source, but a default start fetches the gallery index from index.localai.io and probes model files to estimate their size, and nothing says what index.localai.io logs or keeps (12 of 30). Deprecated flags are marked in the CLI reference and still work, and SECURITY.md dates the end of 1.x and 2.x support, but it hasn't been updated for 3.x or 4.x (8 of 20). No telemetry or analytics library in the Go source, OpenTelemetry metrics stay on the instance, and the gallery fetches are documented with an offline cache. The start-up size probes aren't described as network calls anywhere we read (17 of 20).\n- 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.\n\n### Agent ergonomics: LocalAI +7\n\n- LocalAI (71): Read with the API lines for the OpenAI-compatible surface an agent calls. Responses size through `max_tokens` and streaming, and the llama.cpp prompt cache has been on by default since 4.3.0. The MCP admin server is the heavier surface, 42 tools in about 6,300 characters of descriptions, and `--read-only` halves it to 21 (18 of 25). `limit` and `offset` or `starting_after` on some list endpoints, and a capability filter on installed models (14 of 20). Errors arrive in the caller's own envelope (OpenAI, Anthropic or Open Responses) with a type and a message, 401 adds WWW-Authenticate, and 429 and 503 carry Retry-After, with load progress while a model warms (18 of 20). No idempotency keys, and no readOnlyHint or destructiveHint on the MCP tools. Inference calls are stateless and safe to repeat, and Retry-After says when (9 of 20). One command starts a model (`local-ai run \u003cmodel\u003e`), and existing OpenAI, Anthropic and Ollama clients work unchanged, but there's no LocalAI client SDK (12 of 15).\n- PrivateGPT (64): Read for an HTTP API an agent calls on a local instance. Token counting, `top_k` style retrieval settings, citation output and response byte caps let a caller size context (18 of 25). Artifact listing by namespace and retrieval filters, with no documented cursor pagination (12 of 20). FastAPI validation errors name the field and the validate route checks a request before running it, but there is no error catalogue (12 of 20). Async messages and ingestion return task ids with status, cancel and delete routes. No idempotency keys were found (10 of 20). Anthropic SDKs and Claude Code work by pointing `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL` at the server, but a model server and an embedding server have to be configured first (12 of 15). 18 + 12 + 12 + 10 + 12 = 64.\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | LocalAI | PrivateGPT | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 84 | 70 | LocalAI +14 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 81 | 83 | PrivateGPT +2 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 71 | 64 | LocalAI +7 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 62 | 32 | LocalAI +30 |\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) | 80 | 41 | LocalAI +39 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 53 | 64 | PrivateGPT +11 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -9 | -7 | |\n| **Total** | | **62.5 · B** | **53.2 · D** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | LocalAI | PrivateGPT |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Ettore Di Giacinto and the LocalAI team | Zylon (PriBAI Technology Spain S.L.) |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | HTTP, stdio | HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | None |\n| Pricing | Free | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | MIT. Each backend image wraps an upstream engine (llama.cpp, vLLM, whisper.cpp, diffusers and others) under that engine's own licence | Apache-2.0 |\n| Tools exposed | 42 | none |\n| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |\n| llms.txt | no | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-10-23 | 2026-06-18 |\n| Terms last updated | no document linked | no date given |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |\n| Customer content may train models | not read yet | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | 48k stars | 58k stars |\n| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |\n\n## How the scores have moved\n\n### LocalAI\n\n- -6.0 on 1 November 2026: negative event\n- +0.5 on 27 October 2026: checklist\n\n### PrivateGPT\n\nNo score change since it was listed.\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**LocalAI.** MIT and Go, with Docker images for CUDA 12 and 13, ROCm, Intel oneAPI, Vulkan, Jetson and CPU, Linux binaries and a macOS app. No authentication by default. Loopback, LAN and VPN binds answer every caller, and keys set by environment variable grant full admin.\n\n**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.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### LocalAI\n\n1. Send `Authorization: Bearer \u003ckey\u003e` when the operator has set keys. A 401 means the instance has auth on\n2. Read /.well-known/localai.json and /api/instructions first. Both answer without a key and list what this instance can do\n3. Back off on 429 and 503 for the Retry-After seconds. A 503 can mean the model is still loading\n4. Start `local-ai mcp-server` with `--read-only` unless the task is to install or delete models\n5. Take model names from /v1/models. Each instance names its own\n\n### PrivateGPT\n\n1. Turn on `server.auth` and bind to 127.0.0.1 before exposing an instance, since a default start answers any caller\n2. Point Anthropic SDKs or Claude Code at the server with `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080`\n3. Start an OpenAI-compatible model server and an embedding server first, and set `OPENAI_API_BASE` and `OPENAI_EMBEDDING_API_BASE`\n4. Pass ingested documents through `tool_context` to get answers with citations\n5. Treat web fetch, search and MCP results as untrusted, since PrivateGPT documents no prompt-injection handling\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, LocalAI or PrivateGPT?\n\nLocalAI scores 62.5 (B) on agent readiness against PrivateGPT's 53.2 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. PrivateGPT leads on transparency \u0026 trust.\n\n### Do LocalAI and PrivateGPT need an API key?\n\nLocalAI takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. PrivateGPT needs no key.\n\n### Can an agent call LocalAI and PrivateGPT without installing anything?\n\nLocalAI runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. No hosted endpoint is listed for PrivateGPT.\n\n### Are LocalAI and PrivateGPT open source?\n\nYes. LocalAI is open source (MIT. Each backend image wraps an upstream engine (llama.cpp, vLLM, whisper.cpp, diffusers and others) under that engine's own licence). PrivateGPT is open source (Apache-2.0).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-privategpt.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-privategpt.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"localai\", \"b\": \"privategpt\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare localai privategpt`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/localai.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/privategpt.json\n\n## Other comparisons with LocalAI or PrivateGPT\n\n- [AnythingLLM vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-localai.md)\n- [AnythingLLM vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [Berth vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-localai.md)\n- [Berth vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/berth-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [BitRun vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-localai.md)\n- [BitRun vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitrun-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [Docker Model Runner vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-localai.md)\n- [Docker Model Runner vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-model-runner-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-localai.md)\n- [Foundry Local vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foundry-local-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [Core vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-localai.md)\n- [Core vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [GPT4All vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-localai.md)\n- [GPT4All vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [HyperQwen vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperqwen-vs-localai.md)\n- [HyperQwen vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperqwen-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [Jan vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-localai.md)\n- [Jan vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [Khoj vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-localai.md)\n- [KoboldCpp vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-localai.md)\n- [KoboldCpp vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koboldcpp-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [Lemonade vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-localai.md)\n- [Lemonade vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lemonade-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [llama.cpp vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-localai.md)\n- [llama.cpp vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [LM Studio vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-localai.md)\n- [LM Studio vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [LocalAI vs MLX LM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-mlx-lm.md)\n- [LocalAI vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-ollama.md)\n- [LocalAI vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-open-webui.md)\n- [LocalAI vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-screenpipe.md)\n- [LocalAI vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-text-generation-webui.md)\n- [LocalAI vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-vllm.md)\n- [MLX LM vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mlx-lm-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [Ollama vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [Open WebUI vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/open-webui-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [PrivateGPT vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/privategpt-vs-screenpipe.md)\n- [PrivateGPT vs TextGen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/privategpt-vs-text-generation-webui.md)\n- [PrivateGPT vs vLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/privategpt-vs-vllm.md)\n- [Khoj vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/khoj-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [LocalGhost vs PrivateGPT](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localghost-vs-privategpt.md)\n- [LocalAI vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-underdog.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link the page or API address you took it from (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-11-07", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.7", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", 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