LocalGPT

LocalGPT is a private document intelligence platform enables secure on-premise file analysis and natural language chatting.

LocalGPT is an on-premise document intelligence platform that allows users to chat with files securely. It uses a hybrid search engine combining vector search with full-text search and a cross-encoder reranker. The system supports PDF, DOCX, HTML, Markdown, and TXT formats processed via Docling. Users can run models via Ollama and manage indexes through a web interface or REST API. The platform runs locally without sending data externally.

LocalGPT at a glance

Best for: Software engineer, Researcher
Runs on: Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, self-hosted, open source, CLI
Pricing: Free
Released: May 2023
Category: AI chat assistant
Website: github.com/PromtEngineer/localGPT

Key features

Hybrid search engine with vector and full-text search
Support for PDF, DOCX, HTML, Markdown, and TXT files
Model management and swapping through Ollama
RESTful APIs for custom application integration
Automatic OCR fallback for scanned PDF documents
Source attribution for generated answers
Smart routing between RAG and direct LLM answers

Use it for

Chatting with local documents privately
Summarizing PDF and text files
Searching through local code and documentation
Extracting insights from offline research papers

Alternatives to LocalGPT

GPT4All — Runs open-source language models locally on your device for complete data privacy.
PapersGPT for Zotero — Chat with academic PDFs locally and privately inside Zotero.
Text Generation WebUI — Run local LLMs with multiple backends, multimodal input, and tool calling 100% offline.
Docling — Provides advanced PDF understanding and local execution for sensitive data.
Babeldoc4GPT — Translates complex PDFs in ChatGPT Work while keeping layouts, tables, and formulas intact.
PrivateGPT — Popular open-source project ensuring 100% privacy for AI applications.
Ollama — Run open models locally or in the cloud with private prompts
DocsGPT — Open source code allows for transparent development and customization.
ChatLab — Private, local-first chat analysis that works completely offline.
AnythingLLM — Runs fully on-device with no accounts, API keys, or token limits required.
5ire — It supports local knowledge base management and Model Context Protocol servers.
LM Studio — Runs open source language models locally with real-time voice transcription.

All LocalGPT alternatives