LocalGPT

A self-hosted tool for asking questions about your own documents using local language models.

FreeOpen sourceSelf-hosted
Official websitegithub.com

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About LocalGPT

LocalGPT indexes your files and lets you ask questions about them, summarise them and search them with a local language model, without data leaving your machine. Generation models are swapped through Ollama, and embeddings come from Hugging Face models.

Retrieval combines dense vector search with LanceDB full-text search and a cross-encoder reranker, and a router decides whether to use retrieval or answer directly. Optional features such as answer verification can be switched on in the configuration. It has a web interface for creating indexes and chatting.

Strengths

  • Documents and queries stay on your own machine
  • Hybrid vector and full-text search with reranking
  • Any Ollama model can be used for answers

Limitations

  • No packaged releases; you set it up from source
  • Requires Ollama and enough hardware for local models

Details

Pricing
FreeFree and open source under the MIT licence.
License
MIT
Developer
PromtEngineer
Platforms
Self-hosted
How it runs
Self-hosted
Account
Not required
Works offline
Yes
Best suited for
Private question answering over your own documents
Last verified
Added

Alternatives to LocalGPT

Compare all

Software that can replace LocalGPT for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.

  • AnythingLLM

    A desktop AI app that answers questions about your own documents, with no account and no API key needed.

    FreemiumOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    AnythingLLM is an MIT licensed desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux with packaged installers, bundling chat, vector database and document pipeline instead of a from-source setup.

  • GPT4All

    A local AI chat app with document chat built in, from Nomic AI. Stable, MIT licensed, but not updated since early 2025.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    GPT4All offers LocalDocs document questions in an MIT licensed desktop app that runs on CPU without Ollama, though its latest release dates from February 2025.

  • Kotaemon

    An open-source, self-hosted RAG app for chatting with your documents using local or hosted models.

    FreeOpen sourceWebSelf-hosted

    Kotaemon is an open-source self-hosted RAG app with a web interface and Docker deployment, and it works with hosted models as well as local ones.

  • PrivateGPT

    A self-hosted API layer for building private AI applications on top of local language models.

    FreeProprietarySelf-hosted

    PrivateGPT is an API layer for document question answering that works with any OpenAI-compatible inference server rather than Ollama, adding tools, MCP and text-to-SQL for developers.

  • Open WebUI

    A self-hosted chat interface that talks to Ollama and any OpenAI-compatible API, so your local models get a proper front end.

    FreemiumSelf-hostedWeb

    Open WebUI adds document upload and retrieval to a multi-user chat interface for Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs, but its licence adds a branding condition.

  • Khoj

    Open-source AI second brain that researches across your documents and the web with any model.

    FreemiumOpen sourceWebSelf-hosted

    Khoj is an AGPL-3.0 self-hostable assistant that searches your documents and the web with local or remote models and supports scheduled automations and agents.

  • SurfSense

    An open-source, self-hostable research agent and NotebookLM alternative that answers questions over your documents.

    FreeOpen sourceWebSelf-hosted

    SurfSense is a self-hostable NotebookLM alternative that answers over documents and connected sources, can run air-gapped, and ships with Docker deployment and an MCP server.

  • Open Notebook

    Self-hosted, open source alternative to Google's NotebookLM.

    FreeOpen sourceWebSelf-hosted

    Open Notebook is an MIT licensed self-hosted NotebookLM alternative for working with your own sources, with privacy depending on the configured model provider.

LocalGPT as an alternative

Listings that name LocalGPT as an alternative.

  • FastGPT

    A self-hostable platform for building knowledge-base question answering and AI workflows on top of LLMs.

    FreeProprietaryWebSelf-hosted

    LocalGPT is an MIT-licensed tool for private document Q&A with hybrid search and Ollama models, but it has no packaged releases and is set up from source.

Similar software

Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.

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