Choose LocalAI when
- You want an open-source server and are comfortable operating it yourselves.
- You need APIs shaped like other providers’ besides OpenAI.
- Community support is enough for your use.
AI Server vs LocalAI
LocalAI and AI Server both put OpenAI-compatible APIs on your own hardware and cover text, images and speech. LocalAI is an open-source project; AI Server is a supported commercial product with a Windows app, first-party desktop apps, governance and an AI Gateway mode.
At a glance
What each one is built for.
| AI Server | LocalAI | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A packaged private AI server: Windows app, Docker image and Kubernetes chart that host models for a team and for the AI Suite apps. | An open-source drop-in replacement for cloud AI APIs that runs models locally [1]. |
| OpenAI-compatible endpoints | /v1/chat/completions (streaming, tools, vision), /v1/embeddings, /v1/images/generations, /v1/audio/speech, /v1/audio/transcriptions, /v1/models | OpenAI-compatible API, plus Anthropic, Ollama and ElevenLabs-style APIs [1] |
| Image generation | Yes — text-to-image, image-to-image and inpainting | Image and video generation [1] |
| Speech and transcription | Yes — text-to-speech, file transcription and live transcription | Speech synthesis, voice cloning and real-time transcription [1] |
| Network authentication | API keys are required before the server will serve a network | See the project documentation |
| Multi-user governance | Pro Commercial: rate limits, quotas and budgets, content moderation, audit signing, model lifecycle | See the project documentation |
| Scale-out | AI Gateway mode: one endpoint in front of a pool of AI Server workers, with failover and canary rollouts | Docker images, binaries and a Kubernetes chart [1] |
| Desktop apps that use it | AI Client and the AI Suite apps discover and use it automatically | Used by tools that let you set its address |
| Licence and price | Free on one computer; Pro Personal US$9.99/month; Pro Commercial US$49.99/month per node | Free and open source (MIT) [1] |
Decide
When to choose which.
Choose AI Server when
- You want a Windows app and Microsoft Store install alongside Docker and Kubernetes.
- Your desktops should use AI Client and the AI Suite apps with zero configuration.
- You need built-in API keys, governance, audit signing and a gateway pool.
- You want a commercial licence, invoices and vendor support.
Switching
Moving to AI Server.
- Install AI Server and download the models you use.
- Change each tool’s base URL to AI Server and add an API key.
- Roll AI Client out to the desks that should use the server.
Questions
Answers before you choose.
Which one is open source? +
LocalAI is open source under the MIT licence [1]. AI Server is a commercial product with a free edition for local use.
Do both support images and speech? +
Yes. Both serve image generation and speech features alongside chat; check each product’s documentation for the specific models you need.
Sources
Checked on 2026-10-05 against each product’s public documentation; products change, so confirm current capabilities before deciding. LocalAI is a trademark of its respective owner. Software Tailor is not affiliated with or endorsed by its maker.