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Jan vs Ollama

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Free plan
Both — Jan is free to use, Ollama has a free plan
Public API
Both have one
Best fit
Jan: Privacy-focused users who want an offline ChatGPT-style app · Ollama: developers prototyping against local models
Platforms
Jan: macOS, Windows, Linux · Ollama: macOS, Windows, Linux, Web
Trust score
About even — Jan 91, Ollama 93

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

JanOpen-source desktop chat app that runs open models offline or connects to cloud providers, plus a terminal coding agent.OllamaRuns open-weight language models locally from one command, with a hosted tier for larger models

Side by side

FactJanOllama
CategoryModel Hosting & InferenceModel Hosting & Inference
Pricing modelFreeFreemium
Starts at—$20/mo
Public APIYesYes
Trust score91 / 10093 / 100
PlatformsmacOS, Windows, Linux, APImacOS, Windows, Linux, API, Web
CompanyMenlo Research Pte. Ltd.Ollama Inc.
Launched20232023
Last verifiedOct 2, 2026Sep 6, 2026

What our research says

Jan

A friendly, fully free way to chat with open models offline and keep cloud providers one click away in the same app. It suits people who want privacy and zero subscription cost more than the polish of a hosted assistant. The new Jan Agent is explicitly preview quality, so do not rely on it for daily coding yet.

Pros

  • Free and Apache 2.0 licensed, with active public development
  • Local models run offline with no account or API key
  • Works with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Groq and compatible endpoints
  • Built-in local API server and MCP support

Cons

  • Local model quality and speed depend entirely on your hardware
  • The memory feature is shown as coming soon
  • Jan Agent is in preview with expected rough edges

Ollama

The simplest way to get an open-weight model answering on your own hardware, and its local API has become a default target that most agent frameworks already speak. The cloud tier is the practical escape hatch when a model will not fit in your RAM. What you do not get is fleet-scale serving: this is a single-node runtime, not an inference platform with autoscaling and usage metering.

Pros

  • One command pulls and runs a model, with no environment wrangling
  • Local HTTP API that most agent frameworks already support
  • Works fully offline once weights are downloaded
  • Cloud tier covers models too large for local hardware, in US, EU and Singapore regions
  • Runtime is open source under a permissive licence

Cons

  • Single-node runtime with no autoscaling or multi-tenant serving
  • Max tier signups were paused for capacity when checked
  • Local speed is capped by your own GPU or RAM

Which one fits

Choose Jan if you need

  • Privacy-focused users who want an offline ChatGPT-style app
  • Developers who want local and cloud models behind one interface and a local API

Choose Ollama if you need

  • developers prototyping against local models
  • privacy-constrained work that cannot leave the machine
  • running an offline model behind an existing OpenAI-shaped client

Jan vs Ollama: the questions people ask

Is Jan cheaper than Ollama?

Jan is free to use; Ollama starts at $20/mo.

Does Jan or Ollama have a free tier?

Both: Jan is free to use, and Ollama has a free tier.

Which has a public API, Jan or Ollama?

Both ship a public API, so either can be built on; the fact table above shows the platforms each one runs on.

More comparisons

All Jan alternatives →Browse all Model Hosting & Inference →