What Is a Local LLM? How It Differs from Cloud AI and Who It Is For
What is a local LLM? See how local, offline and on-device models differ, how they compare with cloud AI on privacy, cost and capability, and who it suits.
What is a local LLM? See how local, offline and on-device models differ, how they compare with cloud AI on privacy, cost and capability, and who it suits.
How to run Qwen locally: Ollama file sizes for Qwen3, 3.5, 3.6, 3.8, Coder and VL, a VRAM matching table, one-line commands and thinking-mode control.
Open WebUI Ollama setup with Docker or pip: create the admin account, connect to Ollama, download models and fix ‘can’t reach Ollama’ errors.
Ollama not using GPU? Confirm with ollama ps, then check NVIDIA drivers, AMD ROCm, Vulkan, Mac and Docker, with the env vars and log paths to use.
Install Ollama on Windows, macOS or Linux, verify it works, run your first model, move the model folder and fix common problems. Updated October 2026.
How to run LLMs on a Mac: what 16GB to 128GB of unified memory can hold, usable GPU share, bandwidth by chip, and Mac vs GPU advice.
Local LLM vs API: decide on usage, privacy, model quality, budget and upkeep, with a cost method using hypothetical numbers and a hybrid local-plus-cloud plan.
Planning a local LLM PC build? Four VRAM tiers from 12GB to 32GB, with CPU, RAM, PSU and storage advice, a GPU price snapshot and a build checklist.
Want to run an LLM locally? Learn how much VRAM you need, which models fit 8GB to 48GB, and how to get your first model running with Ollama in five steps.
A complete LM Studio tutorial: install, search and download models, pick a quantization, tune context, chat with documents and start the local API.