Jan

Offline desktop ChatGPT alternative that runs models on each employee's computer.

Active Private ChatGPT-style chat Apache-2.0

GitHub repo Official docs

GitHub stars45.0k

Forks3.1k

Latest releasev0.8.7Oct 20, 2026

Last commitOct 21, 2026

Est. server costNone (desktop)

Activity data comes from GitHub and was last refreshed Oct 22, 2026.

What it does

Jan is a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux that downloads and runs open models locally and keeps all chats on the machine. It can also connect to cloud APIs. There is no server to host; each person installs it on their own computer.

Where it fits in a 10–200 person business

Staff who handle confidential files and need AI without any upload
Offline AI on laptops for travel or field work
Trying local models before investing in a GPU server

These use cases are our editorial suggestions, not claims made by the project.

License: can a business use it?

License	Apache-2.0
Type	Permissive: MIT / Apache-2.0: use, modify and sell with few obligations.
Internal business use	Allowed under the license text
What to watch	Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep license and notices.

This is a plain-English summary of the license text, not legal advice. Third-party models you run with it have their own licenses.

Hardware requirements

Minimum	8 GB RAM · 10 GB disk
Recommended	16 GB RAM
GPU	6 GB VRAM minimum for GPU acceleration

Per-computer requirements (Linux page). The CPU must support AVX2 (Intel Haswell 2013+, AMD Excavator 2015+).

Source: docs.jan.ai/desktop/install/linux

Estimated monthly hosting cost

Runs on each user's own computer, so there is no server to rent.

How to deploy

Method: Desktop installer

# Download the installer for your OS from https://www.jan.ai
# Debian/Ubuntu example:
sudo apt-get install ./Jan_{version}_amd64.deb

From the official instructions: docs.jan.ai/desktop/install/linux. Always check the source for the current version before you run it.

Known gotchas

The .deb package is not updated by the in-app updater; only the AppImage auto-updates. source
CPUs without AVX2 are not supported. source

Alternatives in Private ChatGPT-style chat

Open WebUI Feature-rich self-hosted chat UI for Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs. Compare Jan vs Open WebUI
LobeHub (LobeChat) Polished multi-model chat and agent workspace with plugins and knowledge bases. Compare Jan vs LobeHub (LobeChat)
LibreChat Multi-provider ChatGPT-style interface with agents, file search and user management. Compare Jan vs LibreChat

Facts on this page were checked against the project's own repository and docs on 2026-10-22. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.