Ollama

Ollama is an open-source tool that makes it easy to run large language models locally on personal computers. Created in 2023 by former Docker Desktop builders Jeff Morgan and Michael Chiang, Ollama has become the most popular way for developers and enthusiasts to experiment with open-source AI models without cloud infrastructure or API costs. By mid-2026 it reached nearly 9 million monthly developers and sat inside 85% of the Fortune 500, and in July 2026 it raised a $65 million Series B led by Theory Ventures, bringing total funding to $88 million.

Ollama provides a simple command-line interface and desktop application that handles the complexity of downloading, configuring, and running LLMs locally. Users can run models like Llama, Mistral, Gemma, Phi, and dozens of others with a single command. Ollama manages model storage, memory allocation, GPU acceleration, and provides a local API compatible with the OpenAI API format — making it easy to integrate local models into existing applications.

Ollama has become essential infrastructure for the local AI movement — developers who want privacy, offline access, or cost savings by running models on their own hardware rather than paying for cloud API calls. The tool supports both CPU and GPU inference across macOS, Linux, and Windows. Ollama's popularity reflects the growing desire for AI sovereignty — the ability to run powerful AI models without depending on or sharing data with cloud providers.