About Ollama
Ollama is a tool for running open AI models on your own computer. It also offers cloud models for work that needs more computing power.
What it does
You download a model with one command, then chat with it or call it from your own code through a local server. Ollama handles the model files and hardware setup, so you do not need to configure the runtime yourself. The same tool can switch to cloud models when a task is too large for your machine.
Key features
- Download and run open models with one command
- Local API for connecting your own apps
- Runs on macOS, Windows and Linux
- Optional cloud models for heavier tasks
- Large library of models shared by the community
Who it's for
- Developers testing models on their own machine
- People who want their prompts kept on local hardware
- Teams prototyping AI features before choosing a host
Pricing and good to know
The core software is free and is published under the MIT licence on GitHub. Cloud usage is a separate option, with plans listed on the pricing page. The site states that prompts are not stored or used for training. Local speed depends on your memory and graphics hardware, so larger models need a capable machine.
Highlights
- Download and run open models with one command
- Connect your apps through a local API
- Run on macOS, Windows and Linux
- Switch to cloud models for heavy tasks
- Pull models shared by the community
