Jan

Overview

Jan is an AI chat assistant, available on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Features described in its Flathub listing, in its GitHub repository and on its official website: local model execution, open-weight models (Llama, Mistral…), choice of several models and providers, offline use.

Services and protocols mentioned: OpenAI, Anthropic and Gemini.

Overview written by LicitPro from the documentation published by the authors and the cited sources; we have not tried the resource ourselves.

At a glance

Jan is completely free: it is open source software, and every feature is available without paying or subscribing.

Its licence (Apache-2.0) is a permissive open source licence: use, modification and redistribution are allowed, including in commercial projects.

About

Jan is an open source alternative to ChatGPT that runs 100% offline on your computer. Features Local AI models: Run LLMs such as Llama, Gemma, Qwen and others on your device Optional cloud access: Connect to services like OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini and Groq when internet-based models are required Custom assistants: Create tailored assistants for writing, coding, summarizing and more OpenAI-compatible API: Includes a local API server at localhost:1337 for tools expecting the OpenAI format MCP support: Integrates the Model Context Protocol for enhanced workflows and tooling Privacy-aware design: Jan works offline by default. Cloud access is optional and user-controlled Jan is actively maintained by Menlo Research. Feedback, bug reports and feature requests are welcomed through GitHub.

Description from Flathub — AppStream (Flathub)