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Last checked November 12, 2026

Free alternatives to Ollama Cloud

Ollama Cloud is the hosted half of Ollama. The pricing page checked November 12, 2026 lists Pay as you go at $0, with the line Pay per token for every cloud model. The same card includes running models locally, no subscription, 3 concurrent requests, and no service fees. The usage FAQ says running models on your own hardware is always unlimited, and that a Pay as you go account pays for each cloud request with usage credits. Pro is $20 a month with $60 of usage credits. Max is $100 a month with $300 of usage credits. Team is $500 a month with $1,000 of shared usage credits. The August 31, 2026 pricing post still describes a free plan with a small monthly allowance for a set of starter models. The pricing page checked November 12 does not list that allowance, and it does not print the day the allowance ended.

DevelopersIndividualsPrice checked

What you pay for Ollama Cloud

Pay as you go is $0 and bills every cloud model per token. Running a model on your own hardware is unlimited. The page does not print when the old free allowance ended.

Checked November 12, 2026 on https://ollama.com/pricing. Pay as you go is $0 and says Pay per token for every cloud model, with 3 concurrent requests and no service fees. Pro is $20 a month, or $200 a year, and includes $60 of usage credits. The yearly card also shows $16.67 a month. Max is $100 a month with $300 of usage credits and 10 concurrent requests. Team, marked early access, is $500 a month with unlimited users and $1,000 of shared usage credits. Enterprise is custom. The model table is per million tokens. gpt-oss:20b is $0.07 input and $0.30 output. gpt-oss:120b is $0.15 input and $0.60 output. Off-peak rates apply outside 12:00 to 18:00 UTC on weekdays and all day on weekends. Unused included usage does not roll over. https://ollama.com/blog/transparent-pricing, dated August 31, 2026, says the free plan includes a small amount of monthly usage for a set of starter models. That sentence is not on the pricing page checked November 12.

Ollama Cloud website·Price page

For developers and individuals. Its price on file: Pay as you go is $0 and bills every cloud model per token. Running a model on your own hardware is unlimited. The page does not print when the old free allowance ended. It is in the DevOps group.

How to switch

The closest free app on the checklist is Ollama. Cost and details. Move from Ollama Cloud to Ollama.

Run the model on your own machine

These scores are from the checklist on this page. A full score means it matches our checklist. It is not a drop-in replacement. We check each app against public docs and price pages.

Ollama is #1 (100). llama.cpp is #2 (90). vLLM is #3 (90).

Ollama

#1 · Closest

5 of 5 checked features. A full score means it matches our checklist. It is not a drop-in replacement.

llama.cpp

#2

5 of 5 checked features. A full score means it matches our checklist. It is not a drop-in replacement.

You only get part of: a catalog of open models you can pull by name.

vLLM

#3

5 of 5 checked features. A full score means it matches our checklist. It is not a drop-in replacement.

You only get part of: a catalog of open models you can pull by name.

Where they differ

  • A catalog of open models you can pull by name

    Worth 8 points. Ollama does all of it. The README points at ollama.com/library and shows ollama run gemma4. Those are the same names the cloud model table uses. llama.cpp does part of it. The README pulls a GGUF from Hugging Face with llama serve -hf. That is not the Ollama library name, such as gemma4, from ollama.com/library. vLLM does part of it. The README says it loads Hugging Face models, including Llama, Qwen, Gemma, and GPT-OSS. Those are architecture names, not the Ollama library tag you pass to ollama run.

Ollama, llama.cpp, and vLLM do all of these: run a model on hardware you control, an http api for chat, prompts are not used to train a hosted model, and no per-token fee for the run.

llama.cpp (#2) and vLLM (#3) score 90 with the same share of the checklist checked. The order follows that tie.

Open WebUI

No score

A web interface listed in the Ollama README. It needs a model server behind it. Not scored on this checklist.

How close is it?

How this works

A full score means it matches our checklist. It is not a drop-in replacement. #1 is the closest free app that did not pay us. An ad, when one is sold, is marked and sits after #1. Paying does not change the score. Open source means you can use, change, and share the code. Run it yourself means the app can live on a computer you control.

  1. #1 · ClosestOpen source

    Ollama

    Run open models on your own computer. The license is MIT.

    5 of 5 checked features. A full score means it matches our checklist. It is not a drop-in replacement.

    Last checked November 12, 2026 · License: MIT

    MacWindowsLinuxRun it yourself
    Cost and detailsHow to switchWebsite
  2. #2Open source

    llama.cpp

    LLM inference in C and C++. The license is MIT. llama-server speaks an OpenAI-style API.

    5 of 5 checked features. A full score means it matches our checklist. It is not a drop-in replacement.

    You only get part of: a catalog of open models you can pull by name.

    Last checked November 12, 2026 · License: MIT

    MacWindowsLinuxRun it yourself
    Cost and detailsWebsite
  3. #3Open source

    vLLM

    An Apache-2.0 model server with an OpenAI-compatible API.

    5 of 5 checked features. A full score means it matches our checklist. It is not a drop-in replacement.

    You only get part of: a catalog of open models you can pull by name.

    Last checked November 12, 2026 · License: Apache-2.0

    LinuxMacRun it yourself
    Cost and detailsWebsite

Feature by feature

Full means it does the whole job. Partial means it does some of it. Missing means it does not. Not checked counts as zero. The number under each feature is how much it counts. A bigger number moves the score more.

Scroll sideways to see every app.

Feature comparison. Full, partial, missing, or not checked.
FeatureOllama#1 · 1005 of 5 checked featuresllama.cpp#2 · 905 of 5 checked featuresvLLM#3 · 905 of 5 checked features
Run a model on hardware you controlCounts for 10FullThe README's get-started path is ollama run on the computer where you installed it. The pricing FAQ says local runs are always unlimited.FullThe server README says inference runs on GPU and CPU. You start llama-server on a machine you control.FullThe README is an install on hardware you operate, including NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, CPUs, and an Apple Silicon plugin.
An HTTP API for chatCounts for 8FullThe README shows a POST to http://localhost:11434/api/chat with a model name and a messages array.FullThe server README documents OpenAI-compatible /v1/chat/completions and says a web UI is included.FullThe README says the project includes an OpenAI-compatible API server, plus tool calling.
A catalog of open models you can pull by nameCounts for 8FullThe README points at ollama.com/library and shows ollama run gemma4. Those are the same names the cloud model table uses.PartialThe README pulls a GGUF from Hugging Face with llama serve -hf. That is not the Ollama library name, such as gemma4, from ollama.com/library.PartialThe README says it loads Hugging Face models, including Llama, Qwen, Gemma, and GPT-OSS. Those are architecture names, not the Ollama library tag you pass to ollama run.
Prompts are not used to train a hosted modelCounts for 6FullA local run does not send the prompt to Ollama's host. The README's opening line says access locally or in the cloud with complete privacy. This listing did not capture traffic.FullThe process runs on the machine you started. The README does not describe sending the prompt to a llama.cpp host. This listing did not capture traffic.FullThe server runs where you install it. The README does not describe a vLLM-operated host that stores prompts. This listing did not capture traffic.
No per-token fee for the runCounts for 10FullThe local app has no per-token line on the pricing page. You still download the weights onto hardware you pay for.FullThe project page does not list a per-token fee. Hardware and the model download are yours.FullThe README does not list a per-token fee. You pay for the machine and the weights.

What it costs

Ollama

Free plan
The local app is MIT-licensed. The pricing FAQ says running models on your own hardware is always unlimited. Cloud models are billed per token.
They host it
No subscription is listed for the local app. Cloud Pay as you go is $0 and bills per token. Checked November 12, 2026. Pro is $20 a month, Max is $100, and Team is $500. Those are the hosted plans.
Run it yourself
Easy. The README shows a shell install on macOS and Linux, a Windows install script, and the ollama/ollama Docker image. You bring the hardware. This listing did not price a GPU.

llama.cpp

Free plan
The MIT license covers the inference code and llama-server. You bring the model file and the hardware.
They host it
No llama.cpp subscription is listed on the project page. A host that runs it for you is a separate bill. This listing did not check one. Not checked.
Run it yourself
Setup: medium. The README shows llama serve with a Hugging Face model id. The server README documents the HTTP routes. This listing did not price a machine.

vLLM

Free plan
The Apache-2.0 license covers the server. You bring the model weights and the hardware.
They host it
No vLLM subscription is listed in the README. Someone else hosting a GPU for you is a separate bill. This listing did not check one. Not checked.
Run it yourself
Setup: medium. The README's install is uv pip install vllm, then the docs quickstart. It expects a machine with a supported GPU or CPU. This listing did not price that machine.

Did you switch?

If you left Ollama Cloud, tell us if it worked and how long it took. Notes stay private until we approve them. Nothing is shown until at least five are approved.

How did it go?

Closest pair

Move from Ollama Cloud to Ollama

Install Ollama locally and run the same library name. The cloud credit balance does not move. The pricing page does not print the day the free cloud allowance ended.

Read how to switch

Related alternatives

DevOps alternatives

Switch guides

Free apps in this group

Questions

Did the free cloud allowance end?
The pricing page checked November 12, 2026 does not list a free cloud allowance. Pay as you go is $0 and pays per token for every cloud model. The August 31, 2026 post still says the free plan includes a small monthly allowance for a set of starter models. Neither page prints the day that allowance stopped. Local runs are a separate line: the FAQ says running models on your own hardware is always unlimited.
What is the closest free app?
Ollama on your own computer. The README shows ollama run, a local REST API on port 11434, and the same model names as the library. You still download the weights. llama.cpp and vLLM also run on hardware you control. They pull from Hugging Face, not from the Ollama library names. None of the three includes Ollama's hosted GPUs.
Do cloud prompts stay private?
The pricing FAQ says prompt or response data is never logged or trained on, and that hosting partners have to follow no logging, no training, and zero data retention. Models are hosted primarily in the United States, and requests may be routed to Europe. A local run does not send the prompt to that host. This page did not inspect a packet capture.
What does not come with you?
The hosted weights, the concurrency cap, and the usage-credit balance stay on the Ollama account. A local install does not import that balance. Pro at $20 a month, Max at $100, and Team at $500 are still on the pricing page if you want the hosted models. Open WebUI is a chat screen in front of a local server. It is not scored here.