# Jan

18 Hacker News commenters recommended Jan and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Open-source desktop app for chatting with local AI models, with a simple interface and built-in model downloads. Critics say workspace features are thin and it needs internet and has telemetry.

## Why people recommend it

- Open source and free (3 comments): "its open source, has a simple chat interface, it uses llama.cpp, it lets you search for models and downloads them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47797778)) "Open source and clean, but workspace features are thin and updates are enforced." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46391671)) "jan.ai is the F/LOSS alternative to it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48989516))
- Simple desktop chat interface (2 comments): "its open source, has a simple chat interface, it uses llama.cpp, it lets you search for models and downloads them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47797778)) "There's Jan, which is probably what you want. It's a desktop app rather than a web UI." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47968482))
- Works well for local chat (3 comments): "is similar and works great for me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48353798)) "For local chat Jan seems okay" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45822155)) "Give Jan a try for instance." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46086856))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [llama.cpp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/llama-cpp.md): 471 recommend
- [Ollama](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ollama.md): 350 recommend
- [LM Studio](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lm-studio.md): 217 recommend
- [DS4 by antirez](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ds4.md): 109 recommend
- [Unsloth Studio](https://hackerapproved.com/p/unsloth.md): 94 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Jan", https://hackerapproved.com/p/jan/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).