Local AI › How to install local AI on a Mac, step by step

How to install local AI on a Mac, step by step

From easiest to most technical. Each step comes from the tool's official instructions, linked in the text.

Checked on 13 Oct 2026. Versions change every week: check the official site before installing.

1. LM Studio

Download the .dmg from lmstudio.ai/download, drag it to Applications and follow the same steps. It needs macOS 14.0 or later on Apple Silicon, with 16 GB of RAM or more recommended (system requirements). On Apple Silicon you can pick models in MLX format.

More about LM Studio

2. Ollama

Download Ollama.dmg and drag the app to Applications. The README also links to Homebrew: brew install ollama.

First use, on any system: ollama run gemma4 or ollama run qwen3.5:4b. ollama list shows the models you have installed. The local API listens on http://localhost:11434 (README). Models marked «-cloud» in the Ollama library do not run on your computer.

More about Ollama

3. Jan

Download the installer from jan.ai or from the links in the README (Windows jan.exe, macOS jan.dmg, Linux jan.deb / jan.AppImage / Arm64), open «Hub», download a model and start chatting.

More about Jan

4. GPT4All

Low activity: no new release since February 2025 (latest: v3.10.0, 25 Feb 2025). It may still work, but it is not getting recent improvements or fixes.

Download the official installer listed in the README (Windows gpt4all-installer-win64.exe, Windows ARM, macOS gpt4all-installer-darwin.dmg and Linux) and download a model from inside the app.

More about GPT4All

Images

To generate images, see Generate AI images locally with ComfyUI.