Jan review

Jan is the open source alternative to LM Studio for people who want the whole stack under a permissive license. Menlo Research describes it as an open source replacement for ChatGPT and Claude that runs entirely on your hardware, licensed under Apache 2.0 and built in public. You install it on macOS, Windows or Linux, from the website, the Microsoft Store or Flathub, and start chatting without an account. It ships Jan's own foundation models tuned for reasoning, agents and research, and you can also load other open models or connect cloud providers when a task needs a frontier model. A local API server exposes your models to other apps, and Jan supports MCP servers and integrations with Claude Code and OpenClaw. Newer pieces such as Cowork, which works on files and commands on its own, are in preview, and cross-chat memory is still listed as coming soon. Jan costs nothing, which gives it one of the best value scores here.

Who it is for

People who want a free, open source ChatGPT-style desktop app that keeps chats on their own computer.

Price

Free and open source (Apache 2.0).

Apache 2.0 licensed, built in public.
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 10, 2026.

Key features

• Desktop apps for macOS, Windows and Linux with full offline support
• Built-in Jan models for reasoning, agents and deep research
• Local OpenAI-compatible API server
• MCP support, web search, file upload and projects
• Cowork preview for autonomous tasks on files and commands

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Free and open source with no account needed
• Strength: Switch between local and cloud models such as Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT
• Strength: Available in the Microsoft Store and on Flathub
• Weakness: Memory across chats is still marked coming soon
• Weakness: Cowork is in preview
• Weakness: Fewer document and workspace tools than AnythingLLM or Msty Studio

Key facts

• License: Apache 2.0
• Latest release: v0.8.8
• Downloads: 7.3M+ (vendor figure)
• Account required: No

Where it ranks

Jan is No. 4 in our Best Local LLM Apps verdict.