Best Private AI Apps for Mac in 2026: 9 Options Compared

If you want AI on your Mac that doesn't send your documents to a cloud company, you have good options, and several are free. Developers and tinkerers usually do best with LM Studio or Ollama. If you want a free chat app with local models and no terminal, try Jan. If you mostly want help with text inside the apps you already use, look at Apple Intelligence (built in, but not always on-device), Private LLM, or Hey Eduardo, which we make. Below is what each one does, where your data goes, what it costs, and who it suits, checked against each vendor's own pages in September 2026.

How We Chose

Every app here is a Mac app you can download today, with a mode that processes your text on your Mac. We compared:

• Offline and data: What, if anything, leaves the Mac?
• Good at: Chat, documents, or working inside other apps.
• Setup: How much you need to learn first.
• Price and license: Including whether work use is free.
• Requirements: Chip, macOS version, and memory.

We make Hey Eduardo, so weigh that entry accordingly; we held it to the same checklist. For which model to run, see our guide to the best local LLMs for Mac.

Built Into Your Mac

Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence comes with macOS. Its Writing Tools can proofread, rewrite, and summarize text you select, and Apple says they work in most places you write, including third-party apps and websites.¹

• Offline and data: Apple says its models run entirely on your device when possible. Tasks that need more computing power go to Private Cloud Compute, Apple's own servers, and Apple says that data is not stored or made accessible to Apple.² You don't choose which path a request takes, but you can export an Apple Intelligence Report from System Settings > Privacy & Security to see what was sent.³
• The ChatGPT extension: Optional and separate. If you turn it on, your request, attachments, and limited data such as your country and language go to OpenAI. Apple says you're always asked before files or photos are sent. Signed out, OpenAI must not store your request or train on it; signed in, your ChatGPT account settings apply.⁴
• Good at: Quick rewrites and summaries of selected text, anywhere on the Mac.
• Setup: Turn it on in System Settings. It needs 7 GB of storage.⁵
• Price: Included with macOS.
• Requires: A Mac with Apple silicon and macOS Sequoia 15.1 or later.⁵
• Best for: Occasional help with everyday text, if you're comfortable with Apple's Private Cloud Compute.
• Not ideal for: Anyone who needs every request to stay on the Mac, or who wants to choose the model.

We go deeper in Hey Eduardo vs Apple Intelligence.

Local Chat and Document Apps

LM Studio

LM Studio is a desktop app for finding, downloading, and running open models. It runs them with llama.cpp and, on Apple silicon Macs, with Apple's MLX.⁶

• Offline and data: Once a model is downloaded, it works offline, documents included; finding models and checking for updates need internet.⁷ Its privacy policy says that when you run models locally, none of your messages, chat histories, or documents are transmitted, and that the app has no telemetry.⁸
• Good at: Chat, trying many models, and documents. You can attach .pdf, .docx, or .txt files; short ones are added in full, and long ones use retrieval, which pulls in only the passages that look relevant.⁹ Developers get a local REST API with OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible endpoints, Python and TypeScript SDKs, and a command-line tool.¹⁰
• Setup: Moderate. Install the app, then pick and download a model from its Discover tab.⁷
• Price and license: Free, including at work. In July 2025 LM Studio stopped asking companies to fill out a form or contact them first. It also sells an Enterprise plan with SSO and model controls.¹¹
• Requires: Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later. 16 GB of RAM is recommended; smaller models can work on 8 GB.¹²
• Best for: Tinkerers, developers, and professionals willing to learn a little about models.
• Not ideal for: People who don't want to think about models at all.

Ollama

Ollama began as a command-line tool for running models and now has a desktop app for macOS with a chat window.¹³

• Offline and data: Ollama says it doesn't see your prompts or data when you run locally.¹⁴ It also offers cloud models, which run on Ollama's servers, require an ollama.com account, and carry a -cloud suffix in their names.¹⁵ Ollama says cloud prompts and responses are never logged or trained on.¹⁶ For local-only use, you can switch cloud features off with the OLLAMA_NO_CLOUD=1 environment variable or a setting in ~/.ollama/server.json.¹⁴
• Good at: Being the engine other tools run on. It serves a local API at localhost:11434.¹⁷ In the app you can chat and drag in text files and PDFs; for large documents you raise the context length in settings, which uses more memory.¹³
• Setup: Easy to install; tuning it takes some terminal comfort. Our Ollama setup guide helps.
• Price and license: Open source under the MIT license.¹⁸ Running models on your own hardware is free and unlimited; cloud plans start at $20 a month.¹⁶
• Requires: macOS 14 Sonoma or later.¹⁹
• Best for: Developers, and anyone who wants a local model server that other apps connect to.
• Not ideal for: Non-technical users who want rich document features.

Jan

Jan is an open-source, ChatGPT-style app that its developers describe as running 100% offline on your computer.²⁰ You can use open models locally or plug in online ones from providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic.²¹ It's actively maintained; version 0.8.4 shipped July 23, 2026.²²

• Offline and data: Files are processed on your Mac with a local model, but sent to the provider's API if you use a cloud model.²³ Jan asks at first launch whether to share usage analytics, which are tied to a random ID, and says it doesn't track chats, files, or prompts.²⁴
• Good at: General chat, plus documents. Attach PDFs, Markdown, or Office files to a message, or add them to a Project, which indexes them for every conversation in that project.²³
• Setup: Moderate. Install it, then download a model or add an API key.
• Price and license: Free and open source under Apache 2.0.²⁰
• Requires: Apple silicon (Intel Macs aren't supported), macOS 13.6 or later, and 10 GB or more of free space. Jan says 16 GB of RAM typically handles 7B models comfortably.²⁵
• Best for: People who want a free, open-source chat app and an easy switch between local and cloud models.
• Not ideal for: Working inside other apps.

GPT4All

GPT4All, from Nomic, is a free desktop chat app for open models with a feature called LocalDocs for chatting with your own files. Nomic says no data leaves your machine.²⁶

• Offline and data: LocalDocs indexes a folder using on-device embedding models.²⁷ Sharing your chats with the GPT4All community Datalake is an opt-in setting that is off by default.²⁸ Version 3.10 added remote models from OpenAI, Groq, and Mistral, which are optional.²⁹
• Good at: Asking questions across a folder of documents. By default, LocalDocs reads .txt, .pdf, .md, and .rst files and retrieves up to three 512-character snippets per prompt, so answers draw on excerpts, not whole files.²⁸
• Setup: Low to moderate. Install, download a model, and point LocalDocs at a folder.
• Price and license: Free, MIT-licensed, and described by the project as available for commercial use.³⁰
• Requires: macOS Monterey 12.6 or later, with best results on Apple silicon.³⁰
• Worth knowing: The latest release on GitHub is v3.10.0, from February 25, 2025.²⁹
• Best for: Free folder search on older macOS versions.
• Not ideal for: Reading a long document in full, or following new model releases.

Msty Studio

Msty Studio is a desktop AI workspace that runs local models through built-in Ollama, MLX, and llama.cpp services.³¹

• Offline and data: Msty says local models give you control over privacy and offline workflows.³¹ Its docs say data is stored locally on your device,³² and its site advertises zero product telemetry.³³
• Good at: Power-user chat with local or online models. Knowledge Stacks turn your documents, notes, and transcripts into searchable sources, and Split Chats let you compare models side by side.³⁴
• Setup: Moderate.
• Price and license: The free tier is for personal, non-commercial use. Msty's terms say using it in your paid trade or profession, such as writing work reports, doesn't count.³⁵ Work use needs Aurum, at $149 per user per year or $349 per user for lifetime, or an Enterprise license.³⁶
• Requires: Separate downloads for Apple silicon and Intel Macs.³⁷
• Best for: Power users who want many models and knowledge tools in one place.
• Not ideal for: Professionals expecting free work use, or anyone who wants something simple.

AnythingLLM

AnythingLLM Desktop is a free app built around working with your documents and running an AI agent on your device.³⁸

• Offline and data: Its site says your models, documents, and chat history stay on your machine, with no sign-up.³⁸ The project's README describes anonymous telemetry, such as that a document was added but nothing about it, which you can turn off in the app's privacy settings.³⁹
• Good at: Document-heavy work. It runs llama.cpp-compatible models and can connect to local providers like Ollama and LM Studio.³⁹
• Setup: Low. One download, no terminal.³⁸
• Price and license: Free, MIT-licensed.³⁹
• Requires: Builds for Apple silicon and Intel Macs.³⁸
• Best for: People who want a free, document-focused workspace, including on an Intel Mac.
• Not ideal for: Quick help in whatever app you're reading.

Apps That Work Inside Your Other Apps

Private LLM

Private LLM, from Numen Technologies, is an App Store app that runs models on-device on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.⁴⁰

• Offline and data: No internet is needed after the first model download.⁴¹ Its App Store privacy label says the developer doesn't collect any data.⁴⁰
• Good at: Text actions in any app. Select text, right-click, and it can rewrite, summarize, or correct it on-device. It also works with Shortcuts and Siri and offers more than 140 models.⁴¹
• Setup: Low. Install from the App Store and download a model.
• Price: $4.99 once on the US App Store.⁴⁰ One purchase covers iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with Family Sharing for up to six people.⁴²
• Requires: macOS 14.0 or later.⁴⁰ It installs on Intel Macs, but the developer strongly recommends Apple silicon.⁴²
• Best for: Occasional users who want inexpensive, fully on-device text help across Apple devices.
• Not ideal for: Documents. Its FAQ says it doesn't currently read documents or files.⁴²

Hey Eduardo

Hey Eduardo is a Mac menu-bar app. Highlight text in any app and press a shortcut, and a panel appears over your work: ⌥⇧S summarizes, ⌥⇧E explains in plain words, ⌥⇧A asks a question (⌘⇧Space also works), and ⌥⇧D pulls out dates, figures, and names. ⌥⇧C lets you drag a box to read text off the screen with Apple's on-device text recognition, for scanned or locked PDFs and images.

• Offline and data: Local mode is the default. The model runs on your Mac, nothing you capture is sent to us or any AI company, and it works offline after setup. Cloud mode is opt-in, uses your own Anthropic, OpenAI, or OpenRouter API key, and sends captured text to that provider. A Local/Cloud badge is always visible. Recent history (your last 25 results, with up to 4,000 characters of source text) is on by default, stays on your Mac, and can be turned off in Settings > Reading > Recent.
• Good at: Reading and answering documents without leaving the app you're in. “What should I watch out for?” lists what a document commits you to, deadlines, and silent-agreement clauses, reporting only what the text says (it isn't legal, tax, or financial advice). “How do I respond?” drafts a reply you edit; it never accepts a deadline or confirms a figure for you, and writes [...] where it needs a fact. Ask About a Document… opens a PDF or text file and goes straight to a question. Follow-ups remember the conversation, and you can hold the mic to speak a question (transcribed on the Mac, never uploaded).
• The limit: On the local model, a question reads a window of a few thousand words. When a document is longer than that, it tells you.
• Setup: Low. You don't have to pick a model; the default is Qwen3.5 9B, run with llama.cpp, and you can add other GGUF models. The guide lists every shortcut.
• Price: $49 Pro, $79 Lifetime, or $149 per seat for Business, all one-time, with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
• Requires: An Apple silicon Mac with macOS 15 or later.
• Best for: People who want AI inside whatever app they're reading, with presets for documents and letters, without setup.
• Not ideal for: Developers who want to pick and swap models through an API (there isn't one), long free-form chat sessions, coding help, Intel Macs, or anyone who needs Windows or iPhone.

“Private” Depends on the Mode You're In

Most of these apps can also use cloud models. Ollama has cloud models, Jan, GPT4All, and Msty can connect to online providers, and Hey Eduardo has an opt-in Cloud mode. Privacy depends on what's selected when you press Enter. Before you paste in client material, confirm you're on a local model.

Which One Should You Pick?

• Developer or tinkerer: LM Studio if you want a polished app with an API and SDKs. Ollama if you want a lightweight local server that other tools can use and don't mind the terminal.
• Non-technical professional: Jan if you want a free chat window with local models. Hey Eduardo if you mostly read documents and letters and draft replies in apps you already use. Msty if you want lots of features and will buy a work license.
• Occasional user: Apple Intelligence if your Mac qualifies and you're fine with some requests going to Private Cloud Compute (decline ChatGPT prompts for anything sensitive). Private LLM if you want on-device text help for a few dollars.
• Confidential client work: Choose a tool with a local mode you can verify, and keep it there. LM Studio suits you if you're comfortable choosing models and working in a chat window. Hey Eduardo suits you if you want it inside the apps you read in, with Local as the default. Either way, check your licensing board's or employer's rules.
• Intel Mac: GPT4All, Msty, and AnythingLLM offer Intel options. LM Studio, Jan, Apple Intelligence, and Hey Eduardo need Apple silicon.

Related: The best local LLMs for Mac in 2026, setting up Ollama, and Hey Eduardo vs Apple Intelligence.