Jan: Runs large language models locally on your desktop with optional API connections, prioritizing privacy over BoltAI's cloud focus. BoltAI records 51,681 monthly visits with -8.2% month-over-month growth and One-time purchase (perpetual licence with 1 year of updates) pricing. Jan records 291,894 monthly visits with -9.6% growth and Free pricing.
One native Mac workspace for hundreds of AI models
Open-source desktop AI that runs models locally on your own machine
| Dimension / Metric | | |
|---|---|---|
| Official Domain | boltai.com | jan.ai |
| Pricing Model | One-time purchase (perpetual licence with 1 year of updates) | Free |
| Monthly Visits | 51.68K (51,681) | 291.89K (291,894) |
| MoM Traffic Delta | -4.64K (-8.2%) | -30.85K (-9.6%) |
| Primary Market & Share | 🇺🇸 United States (38.2%) | 🇺🇸 United States (23%) |
| Direct Visits / mo | 20.77K | 105.62K |
| User Rating | 4.5 | 4.6 |
| Supported Platforms | Website | Website |
One native Mac workspace for hundreds of AI models
Switch between OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Mistral, Azure, Amazon Bedrock and local Ollama or LM Studio models without changing applications.
Build reusable agents with custom instructions, knowledge and tools, organise work into projects and multi-chat threads, and branch a chat to compare alternative answers.
Attach PDFs, documents and screenshots, use the screen-capture-to-answer flow, and get summaries, explanations or structured data extraction from vision-capable models.
Connect local and remote MCP servers, enable code execution and attached knowledge, while chats stay on-device and API keys can be passphrase-encrypted.
Open-source desktop AI that runs models locally on your own machine
Download and run open models such as Llama, Mistral, Qwen, Gemma, and DeepSeek directly on your own machine, with chat data kept on device.
Optionally connect API keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Mistral, and other providers to route requests to frontier models from the same interface.
Jan exposes a local server endpoint that follows the OpenAI API shape, so existing SDKs and tools can talk to your local models without code changes.
Create assistants with their own system instructions, model selection, and parameters, then reuse them across conversations.
Free / Open-sourceProvides a lightweight command-line runtime for local LLMs, though it lacks Jan's built-in graphical user interface.
Free / Open-sourceProvides a lightweight command-line runtime for local LLMs, though it lacks Jan's built-in graphical user interface.
Free / Open-sourceOffers a powerful self-hosted web interface for local models, but requires manual Docker setup rather than desktop installation.
Free / Open-sourceOffers a powerful self-hosted web interface for local models, but requires manual Docker setup rather than desktop installation.
SpecialistIntegrates AI chat and productivity commands directly into your macOS launcher, offering faster system-wide access than BoltAI.
SpecialistIntegrates AI chat and productivity commands directly into your macOS launcher, offering faster system-wide access than BoltAI.
Free / Open-sourcePut always-on AI agents on your team chat
SpecialistSpecializes in document chat and local RAG workflows, though less focused on general-purpose model tinkering than Jan.
SpecialistSpecializes in document chat and local RAG workflows, though less focused on general-purpose model tinkering than Jan.
Free / Open-sourceUnites multiple AI providers in a customizable open-source platform, but is typically deployed as a web server.
Free / Open-sourceUnites multiple AI providers in a customizable open-source platform, but is typically deployed as a web server.
SpecialistFree, open-source AI app builder that runs on your own machine
Combines multiple chat and image models into a unified subscription workspace, but relies on managed billing rather than API keys.
Combines multiple chat and image models into a unified subscription workspace, but relies on managed billing rather than API keys.
Free / Open-sourceActs as an open-source local AI server supporting multimodal models, though it is less established as a desktop client.
Free / Open-sourceActs as an open-source local AI server supporting multimodal models, though it is less established as a desktop client.
SpecialistPrivate AI that answers from your own documents, on Mac and Windows
SpecialistPrivate AI that answers from your own documents, on Mac and Windows
SpecialistOpen-source coding agent built for low-cost, open-weight language models
SpecialistOpen-source coding agent built for low-cost, open-weight language models
Free / Open-sourceProvides a feature-rich open-source desktop AI client for chatting with cloud and local models, similar to BoltAI.
Free / Open-sourceProvides a feature-rich open-source desktop AI client for chatting with cloud and local models, similar to BoltAI.
