Guides · 4 min read

Run your first local LLM in 10 minutes

Check your hardware, pick a model that fits, install an app and start chatting, with nothing leaving your machine.

  1. Find out what you have. Open My hardware and press Detect. The number that matters is memory: video memory on a graphics card, unified memory on a Mac.
  2. Pick a model that fits. The Model Finder lists every model that runs on your hardware, best first. As a rule, choose one with a quality grade of A or better that says Runs great or Runs well. Not sure how much memory a model needs? Try the memory calculator.
  3. Install an app. LM Studio is point and click, Ollama is one command. Each model page names the best app for your exact hardware. See all apps.
  4. Download and chat. On a model page, use the “Open in” button for your app, or copy the model name into the app’s search box. Start with the quantization the page recommends.
  5. Check the speed. If answers feel slow, step down one quantization or choose a smaller model. If you have headroom, step up: quantization explained.

Everything runs on your machine. No account is needed, and your prompts stay local.

Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.