LM Studio
Desktop app for running open-source LLMs locally.
At a Glance
LM Studio is an AI tool for Agent & RAG frameworks (category: Development & Code). Free access: Free plan. Documented: 2 plans with prices and limits.
- Category
- Agent & RAG frameworks
- Paid from
- pay as you go / per 1 million tokens (Cloud credits (optional))
- Free Option
- Free plan
- Plans
- 2
- Sources
- 2 verified sources
Category: Development & Code · Agent & RAG frameworks
Features
LM Studio is a desktop app that runs open language models (LLMs, large language models) locally via llama.cpp/MLX. Chat, agents, and offline transcription run on your machine; optional cloud inference covers frontier models.
The former requirement for a separate commercial licence was dropped in July 2025. For larger teams, Enterprise (SSO/single sign-on, model gating, private sharing) and a not-yet-priced Teams tier have been announced.
- Run open-source LLMs locally on the desktop
- Bionic Agent for local agent workflows
- Offline speech transcription without the cloud
- Optional cloud inference for frontier models
- Since July 2025, workplace use no longer needs a separate commercial licence
Prices and plans
| Tier | Price | Period | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | free | Permanent | Local LLM execution Bionic Agent, offline voice transcription |
| Cloud credits (optional) | pay as you go | per 1 million tokens | Cloud inference for frontier models |
Prices per vendor, excl. taxes/VAT where applicable.
Limits
LM Studio's desktop app is free indefinitely for personal and business use: models run entirely locally (via llama.cpp/MLX), no usage costs. Maker Element Labs optionally offers paid pay-as-you-go cloud credits for external model inference.
Alternatives and similar tools to LM Studio
FAQ
Is LM Studio available for free?
Yes. A permanently free plan is published, not a time-limited trial.
Where is the vendor of LM Studio based?
Element Labs, Inc. is based in the USA. Regardless of that location, data processing and privacy terms are governed by the vendor's own contract.
How is LM Studio billed?
LM Studio is permanently free as a desktop app for personal and business use: models run entirely locally (via llama.cpp/MLX), and there are no usage costs. Optionally, Element Labs offers paid pay-as-you-go cloud credits for external model inference.
What plans does LM Studio offer?
The catalog documents 2 plans with price, billing period, and included features.
Is LM Studio currently available?
LM Studio is still active: Active.
How we compare
We compare free access, paid entry, plan limits, features and the listed official sources. Unsourced figures stay marked as not published.
Only confirmed entries appear in the catalog. Prices, plans and limits come from listed official vendor pages. Missing figures stay marked as not published. Search results are ordered by Task match by default; category and task lists are alphabetical. Both can be switched to Free access first; neither is a quality ranking. The vendor page always wins.
Edited and checked by the AI Compare Ninja team
Sources
All details regarding plans, limits, and features are based on official vendor documentation and the primary sources verified below.
- https://lmstudio.ai
- https://lmstudio.ai/pricing
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