New here? Start with the basics
You don't need any AI background. A few short ideas and you'll understand everything below.
What is an LLM?
A Large Language Model is a program trained on huge amounts of text. Its one job: read what came before and predict the next word (really the next token — a word-piece). Repeat that and it can write, answer, summarize and code.
Text in, text out. That's the whole idea.
"Parameters": million vs billion
Parameters are the model's learned settings — millions of tiny knobs tuned during training. More knobs = more capacity for patterns.
1M = a million. 1B = a billion (1,000 M). A 7B model has 7 billion knobs; a 70B has ten times more.
Rule of thumb: bigger is usually smarter, but needs more memory and runs slower. Bigger isn't always better for a task.
The architecture, in 60 seconds
Almost all of these are Transformers. Text → tokens → vectors → stacked layers of attention (each token "looks at" the others) → a prediction for the next token.
Many 2026 models are Mixture-of-Experts (MoE): huge in total parameters, but only a small "active" slice runs per token — big brain, fast answers.
Open-weight vs closed
Open-weight: download it and run offline, free (Llama, Gemma, Qwen, DeepSeek…). Fully open adds the data + code (OLMo).
Closed (GPT, Claude, Gemini) live only behind an API. This page is about the open ones you can own.
How big is "big"? A sense of scale
Roughly how much memory each size needs locally (using common 4-bit "quantization", which shrinks models to fit consumer hardware).
A 16 GB laptop runs 7–9B models happily. A 24 GB GPU handles ~30B. The giant MoE models want a server — but their smaller siblings run anywhere.
The models, by company
Each card is a company / model family with its open models. Tap any model for details and a one-line command. Every icon is downloadable.
Run one on your own computer
Two beginner-friendly tools. Both download a model once, then run it fully offline and private.
Ollama (terminal, super simple)
Install from ollama.com, then in a terminal:
Other handy commands:
An OpenAI-compatible API is served at localhost:11434.
LM Studio (friendly app + CLI)
A desktop app from lmstudio.ai: search a model, click Download, then Chat — no terminal needed.
- Open LM Studio → 🔍 search (e.g. "Llama 3.1 8B").
- Pick a quant (Q4 is a great default) → Download.
- Go to Chat, load the model, start typing.
Prefer the terminal? LM Studio ships the lms CLI:
Its local server runs at localhost:1234.