Compare software

apfel vs Swama: catalog facts
apfel	Swama
Best for: Apple Silicon Mac users who want local language model access from scripts or a terminal	Best for: Running local AI models natively on an Apple Silicon Mac
Free Free and open source under the MIT license.	Free Free, with source published on GitHub.
macOS, Command line	macOS
Provides CLI, interactive chat, and OpenAI-compatible server modes Runs the model on-device without downloading model files All 3 strengths for apfel Provides CLI, interactive chat, and OpenAI-compatible server modes Runs the model on-device without downloading model files Supports MCP tools and shell pipelines	Native Swift implementation on MLX Supports text, vision, embedding, speech recognition and speech synthesis models All 3 strengths for Swama Native Swift implementation on MLX Supports text, vision, embedding, speech recognition and speech synthesis models Includes a macOS app
Requires Apple Silicon and macOS 26 or later Requires Apple Intelligence to be enabled All 3 limitations for apfel Requires Apple Silicon and macOS 26 or later Requires Apple Intelligence to be enabled Uses Apple's fixed on-device model	Apple Silicon Macs only Smaller project than established model runners
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: MIT	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for apfel apfel.franzai.com Catalog checked October 8, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Swama github.com/Trans-N-ai/swama Catalog checked October 1, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.