ollama
by ollama
Ollama is a tool that downloads and runs open AI language models on your own computer, or in the cloud, and gives you a command line and a local web API to talk to them. It is for trying out models and connecting them to other apps without sending your data to a third-party AI service.
- Stars
- 184.9k
- Licence
- MIT
- Runs on
- Your computer
- Setup
- Easy
- Language
- Go
- Age
- 1218 days
What you can do with it
- Download and chat with open models such as Gemma, Qwen, DeepSeek and gpt-oss from the command line
- Build your own apps on the local REST API or the Python and JavaScript libraries
- Connect it to chat interfaces, coding tools and assistants such as Open WebUI, Claude Code or OpenClaw
Make money with it
Offer to set up private, local AI assistants for small firms that cannot send data to cloud services, and charge for setup and support.
An idea, not financial advice. Check the licence before charging for anything built on it.
Ways a business could use it
- Run an internal chatbot or document assistant on your own hardware so customer data stays private and you avoid per-use API fees
- Power automations such as drafting replies, summarising documents or tagging support requests without paying for a hosted AI service
Can you use it commercially?
Free to use, change and sell, including in paid products. Keep the copyright notice.
Not legal advice. Read the project's licence file before building a product on it.
Getting it running
Install it with a one-line script or a download on macOS, Windows or Linux, or use the official ollama/ollama Docker image.
Follow the official instructions in the project README.
Things to check
- Larger models run slowly without a capable GPU or plenty of memory
- Cloud model access mentioned in the README may need an Ollama account and could be paid
- Each model has its own licence, which may limit commercial use
Checked 26 Oct 2026. Summary drafted by AI from the project's README.
