Hob
Shares rank 23 of 27 local LLM runners by recommenders
A free, on-device AI assistant recommended as a better alternative to big companies' tools. Critics say its models are weak and that it is not fully open source.
A free, on-device AI assistant recommended as a better alternative to big companies' tools. Critics say its models are weak and that it is not fully open source.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 63%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: 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: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 2 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.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Not fully open source
“they’re closed source and you can’t opt out of analytics”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Hob - Open-source, on device alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPT” “This doesn't seem to be open source?”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Hob - Open-source, on device alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPT” Models too weak for real work
“there was no way for it to clean up the 18GB of models it installed after I determined it was not really usable for any real work”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Hob - Open-source, on device alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPT” “The models are really dumb, mainly.”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Hob - Open-source, on device alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPT”
Other local LLM runners people recommend
The four most recommended other local LLM runners, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| llama.cpp | 471 | 109 | 81% | 13 | 1 yr4 owners | Approved |
| Ollama | 350 | 247 | 59% | 12 | 1.5 yrs8 owners | — |
| LM Studio | 217 | 74 | 75% | 12 | 3 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| DS4 by antirez | 109 | 20 | 84% | 7 | 1 mo3 owners | Approved |
| HobThis page | 5 | 3 | 63% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
9 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The models are really dumb, mainly.”
“there was no way for it to clean up the 18GB of models it installed after I determined it was not really usable for any real work”
“I like that you shared your process in such an honest way, and kept it no frills”
“you gave me a few inspirations”
“they’re closed source and you can’t opt out of analytics”
“I saw you support HOB_USER_DATA, which is great.”
“This doesn't seem to be open source?”
“because this is better and more important that what the big companies are doing across the board”
“has an unbroken surface and magnetic knobs that can be removed for cleaning”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.