Desert Ant Labs local models
Ranked 11 of 11 small language models by recommenders
Fast local models that run on device, with a free license for small companies. Critics question the per-device business model.
Fast local models that run on device, with a free license for small companies. Critics question the per-device business model.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 70%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Free license and flexible terms
“A 100K free device license is a generous gift to small companies.”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Desert Ant Labs: local, fast models that run on device” “It's still a very customer-permissive and flexible business model”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Desert Ant Labs: local, fast models that run on device” Fair pay-on-success pricing
“How is it not obvious and fair that they are asking you to pay them when you see success”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Desert Ant Labs: local, fast models that run on device” “It's still a very customer-permissive and flexible business model”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Desert Ant Labs: local, fast models that run on device”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Per-device business model hard to justify
“I dunno about the business model though.”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Desert Ant Labs: local, fast models that run on device” “"the \"per user\" model is just especially difficult to justify here"”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Desert Ant Labs: local, fast models that run on device”
Other small language models people recommend
The four most recommended other small language models, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku | 218 | 134 | 62% | 13 | 4 mo4 owners | — |
| OpenAI Luna | 218 | 56 | 80% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Apple Foundation Models | 45 | 35 | 56% | 11 | 1 yr4 owners | — |
| Ministral | 18 | 6 | 75% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Desert Ant Labs local modelsThis page | 7 | 3 | 70% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
9 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“What's worrying for them is nothing they're doing is impossible to be recreated”
“"the \"per user\" model is just especially difficult to justify here"”
“This is very impressive for a 248MB model.”
“It's still a very customer-permissive and flexible business model”
“What could go wrong here?”
“A 100K free device license is a generous gift to small companies.”
“How is it not obvious and fair that they are asking you to pay them when you see success”
“I dunno about the business model though.”
“they look like most of them are iOS only”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.