# LM Studio — AI Compare Ninja

> Desktop app for running open-source LLMs locally.

## Overview
- **Category:** Development & Code (Agent & RAG frameworks)
- **Status:** Active · checked - Active.
- **Paid from:** pay as you go / per 1 million tokens (Cloud credits (optional))
- **Free access:** Free plan
- **Website:** https://lmstudio.ai
- **Canonical URL:** https://www.aicompare.ninja/en/tool/lm-studio

## What it does
- 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

## In brief
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.


## 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.

## Pricing tiers
| 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 |

## 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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*Source: AI Compare Ninja (2026) - https://www.aicompare.ninja/en/tool/lm-studio*