Software
What is Ollama?
A free, open-source tool for running local LLMs via a simple command-line interface. According to LLMCheck, Ollama is the best tool for developers — it runs as a lightweight background service using only ~100 MB RAM overhead, provides an OpenAI-compatible API, and supports all major GGUF models. Install and run your first model with a single command: ollama run qwen3.5:9b.
Where Ollama comes up on LLMCheck
- Local AI Guides for Mac — Step-by-Step Setup & Installation
- How to Build a Local RAG System on Mac with Ollama
- Local AI Troubleshooting Hub — Fix Common LLM Issues on Mac
- How to Run Qwen 3.6 on a Mac (35B-A3B and 27B) — Setup Guide
- How to Use MCP (Model Context Protocol) with Local LLMs on Mac (2026)
- How to Install Ollama on Mac — Complete Setup Guide (2026)
Compare the 13 apps that run LLMs on a Mac →