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LM StudioReported

LM Studio: what’s new and our verdict

Desktop app for running open models locally; the homepage now leads with Bionic, an agent for work and code.

Official site

Release Ruler for LM Studio: marked at its Reported release date on the timeline of every AI model we track.

At a glance

Evidence
Reported
First covered
Oct 25, 2026
Last verified
Oct 25, 2026
Pricing
Not verified
Best for
local LLM tools and model platforms

Evidence and ranking

Evidence behind this verdict

  1. Sources read1 cited source, latest fetched Oct 25, 2026. (done)
  2. Facts re-checkedLast verified Oct 25, 2026. (done)
  3. Not run by us yetWe have not run it, so this is labelled Reported. (not done)

Where we rank it (editorial)

Listed here but not yet ranked. Ranks are editorial picks, not benchmark scores.

Pricing: No pricing page was read; check lmstudio.ai. (checked 2026-10-25)

Our verdict

Desktop app for running open models locally; the homepage now leads with Bionic, an agent for work and code.

Good for

  • People who want a desktop app for local models

Skip if

  • You need an open-source app (see Jan or Ollama)

Status: Reported. This write-up is based on official release notes and docs; we have not run this release ourselves yet.

Best for

Key facts

LM Studio's homepage describes Bionic as LM Studio's agent for open models: natively local, built for creativity, work and code, able to create and edit documents, run coding tasks and automations, and transcribe speech in real time.

  • License: Proprietary application (license terms not read)
  • Platforms: Desktop (platform list not read)
  • Pricing model: Not verified
  • Free tier: Pricing not published on the page we read
  • Paid plans: Not stated
  • How to start: Download from lmstudio.ai and pick a model inside the app.
  • Catalog entry: facts read from the vendor's pages on 2026-10-25. We do not track release notes for this entry.

How to set it up: Get started with LM Studio

These steps come from the vendor's own pages as read on 2026-10-25. We have not run LM Studio.

  1. Get access

    Download from lmstudio.ai and pick a model inside the app.

  2. Check the limits and costs first

    Pricing not published on the page we read. No pricing page was read; check lmstudio.ai.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Local-first
  • Desktop app

Cons

  • License and pricing not verified here

Alternatives and comparisons

  • Ollama: The common way to run open models locally on macOS, Windows and Linux, with a cloud option and an MIT-licensed open-source core.
  • Jan: Open-source alternative to ChatGPT that runs open models locally or connects to cloud models like GPT and Claude.
  • GPT4All: Local chatbot from Nomic that runs open-source models on your device; the latest GitHub release we saw is v3.10.0 from Feb 2025.
  • Cohere: Enterprise AI company: Command models, Rerank and the North platform.

See all alternatives to LM Studio

FAQ

What is LM Studio?

LM Studio's homepage describes Bionic as LM Studio's agent for open models: natively local, built for creativity, work and code, able to create and edit documents, run coding tasks and automations, and transcribe speech in real time.

Is LM Studio free?

Pricing not published on the page we read. No pricing page was read; check lmstudio.ai. Checked 2026-10-25; prices change, so confirm on the vendor's page.

What license is LM Studio under?

Its license: Proprietary application (license terms not read). Read from the project's own pages on 2026-10-25.

What we have not verified

  • Release date (none published on the pages we read; the date shown is the day we first covered this entry)
  • Pricing
  • License
  • Platforms

Sources

Last verified · Agentic Weekly

  • Cohere: Enterprise AI company: Command models, Rerank and the North platform.
  • DeepSeek: Model API that works with the OpenAI and Anthropic SDK formats and can back agent tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode.
  • Hugging Face: The hub where the ML community shares models, datasets and apps, with PRO, Team and Enterprise tiers.

How to cite this page

Agentic Weekly, "LM Studio: what's new, verdict & setup", last updated 2026-10-25, https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/lm-studio

Keep the Reported or Tested label when you quote a verdict. Plain-text version: https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/lm-studio.md. More for AI assistants: /ai, /tools.json, /llms.txt.