Forge

Forge / Local & Offline

LM Studio

Free

The GUI for local LLMs. OpenAI-compatible local server so Cline/OpenCode can talk to a model on your disk.

No cardMM-friendlySelf-hostableAPI
Official site

Free tier

Desktop app is free for individuals. Models are downloaded separately (GGUF).

Limits

Not open-source. License is personal-use oriented. Quality trails frontier APIs.

Best for

  • Local chat
  • BYOK-to-localhost agents
  • Model shopping in a UI

How to use it well

  1. Install, then download a 7B–8B GGUF (Qwen, Gemma, Llama). Stay under your RAM.
  2. Start the local server. Point Cline/OpenCode/Aider at `http://localhost:1234/v1`.
  3. Keep one model loaded. Switching 8B models on 16 GB RAM will freeze the machine.

Myanmar notes

Best local GUI for MM laptops. Download GGUFs on Wi-Fi. Pair with OpenCode when the Gemini free key 429s.