Alternatives / Gemini

Open-source alternatives to Gemini

9 genuinely open-source alternatives. The projects are compared by license, workflow, self-hosting, and pricing.

Why look for a Gemini alternative?

Gemini is Google's AI assistant for writing, coding, research, document analysis, multimodal reasoning, image understanding, and general-purpose conversation. People look for alternatives when they want local models, self-hosting, multiple providers, offline conversations, private document analysis, custom agents, or less dependence on Google.

#1

Proton Lumo

Privacy-focused hosted AI assistant from Proton.

Proton Lumo provides conversational chat, document analysis, web search, image generation, projects, and Proton integrations. Its published mobile clients are GPL-licensed, but the complete hosted service and AI infrastructure are not a fully open-source stack.

GPL-3.0 for published mobile clients

Pricing: Hosted privacy-focused service; complete self-hosting is not available.

  • Strong privacy focus and encrypted chat storage
  • Document analysis, web search, image generation, and Proton Drive integration
  • Open-source mobile clients
  • Hosted infrastructure is not fully open source
  • Cannot self-host the complete service
  • Less model flexibility than self-hosted platforms
#2

Open WebUI

Self-hosted AI platform for local and cloud language models.

Open WebUI provides a unified interface for Ollama, OpenAI-compatible APIs, Anthropic, and other providers, with document RAG, web search, tools, multimodal input, user management, and extensions. Current code uses the Open WebUI License with branding restrictions.

Open WebUI License; older code BSD-3-Clause / MITSelf-hosted

Pricing: Free to self-host; current license includes branding restrictions beyond traditional permissive licenses.

  • Excellent self-hosting and Ollama integration
  • Local and cloud models, RAG, web search, tools, and multimodal support
  • Multi-user support and large community
  • Current license includes branding restrictions
  • Current releases are not purely BSD-3-Clause
  • Team deployments require infrastructure
#3

LobeChat

Multi-model chat and agent platform with knowledge bases and tools.

LobeChat, now part of the LobeHub platform, combines multi-model chat, AI agents, knowledge bases, plugins, tools, and orchestration. Its community license is based on Apache-2.0 but adds restrictions on commercial derivative works.

LobeHub Community LicenseSelf-hosted

Pricing: Self-hostable source-available community edition; license contains additional commercial restrictions.

  • Multiple providers, agents, knowledge bases, and tools
  • Model switching and self-hosting
  • Strong interface and agent workflows
  • Not standard Apache-2.0
  • Commercial restrictions apply
  • More complex than a simple Claude replacement
#4

AnythingLLM

Local-first AI workspace for documents, models, and agents.

AnythingLLM is an MIT-licensed local-first and self-hostable AI workspace with local or cloud models, document ingestion, vector search, agents, multi-user workspaces, and a developer API.

MITSelf-hosted

Pricing: Free and open source under MIT with desktop and self-hosted deployments.

  • MIT licensed and no mandatory account
  • Desktop, local models, document chat, RAG, agents, and API
  • Multi-user workspaces
  • More focused on document workflows than general Claude use
  • Local inference requires suitable hardware
  • Setup is more involved than a hosted chatbot
#5

Cherry Studio

Cross-platform desktop AI client for many model providers.

Cherry Studio is an AGPL-3.0 Community Edition desktop AI assistant for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It combines model selection, chat, knowledge bases, agents, MCP servers, documents, model comparison, and local conversation storage.

AGPL-3.0 Community Edition

Pricing: Free and open source Community Edition; external model API costs may apply.

  • Large provider and model selection
  • BYOK, local models, agents, MCP, knowledge bases, and document analysis
  • Cross-platform local conversation storage
  • Desktop-focused
  • Many models require external APIs
  • Large feature set can be more complex than Claude
#6

LibreChat

Self-hosted MIT multi-provider AI chat interface.

LibreChat is an MIT-licensed self-hostable chat interface supporting Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Azure, local models, custom agents, files, tools, web search, code execution, model comparison, and multi-user access.

MITSelf-hosted

Pricing: Free and open source under MIT; API provider and infrastructure costs may apply.

  • MIT licensed and multi-provider
  • Self-hosted chat, agents, files, tools, and model comparison
  • Familiar interface with multi-user support
  • Requires API configuration
  • Local models need separate infrastructure
  • Administration is more involved than using Claude directly
#7

Jan

Open-source desktop assistant for local and cloud AI models.

Jan is an Apache-2.0 desktop AI assistant designed to run models such as Llama, Qwen, Mistral, and DeepSeek locally while also supporting cloud providers.

Apache-2.0

Pricing: Free and open source under Apache-2.0; cloud model API costs may apply.

  • Runs locally and offline
  • Apache-2.0 with local model management
  • Multiple cloud providers, desktop workflow, and strong privacy
  • Performance depends on hardware
  • Large models require significant RAM or GPU resources
  • Cloud capabilities still require third-party APIs
#8

Fullmoon

Lightweight local AI assistant optimized for Apple devices.

Fullmoon is an MIT-licensed local AI assistant that runs compatible language models entirely on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro using Apple's hardware acceleration.

MIT

Pricing: Free and open source under MIT; compatible local models run on supported Apple hardware.

  • Runs completely locally and offline
  • Private conversations and MIT license
  • Optimized for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Silicon
  • Limited to Apple platforms
  • Smaller models than cloud assistants
  • Less capable for complex reasoning and smaller ecosystem
#9

Zola

Self-hosted Apache-2.0 multi-model AI web chat.

Zola is an Apache-2.0 web chat interface for OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Mistral, OpenRouter, and local Ollama models, with self-hosting and bring-your-own-key support.

Apache-2.0Self-hosted

Pricing: Free and open source under Apache-2.0; provider and infrastructure costs may apply.

  • Apache-2.0 and self-hosted
  • Multi-model, Claude, OpenRouter, and Ollama support
  • Clean web interface with BYOK
  • Primarily an interface
  • Smaller feature set than larger platforms
  • Advanced features may require additional services

Compare Gemini alternatives

ToolStarsLicenseSelf-hostedPricing
Proton LumoGPL-3.0 for published mobile clientsNoHosted privacy-focused service; complete self-hosting is not available.
Open WebUIOpen WebUI License; older code BSD-3-Clause / MITYesFree to self-host; current license includes branding restrictions beyond traditional permissive licenses.
LobeChatLobeHub Community LicenseYesSelf-hostable source-available community edition; license contains additional commercial restrictions.
AnythingLLMMITYesFree and open source under MIT with desktop and self-hosted deployments.
Cherry StudioAGPL-3.0 Community EditionNoFree and open source Community Edition; external model API costs may apply.
LibreChatMITYesFree and open source under MIT; API provider and infrastructure costs may apply.
JanApache-2.0NoFree and open source under Apache-2.0; cloud model API costs may apply.
FullmoonMITNoFree and open source under MIT; compatible local models run on supported Apple hardware.
ZolaApache-2.0YesFree and open source under Apache-2.0; provider and infrastructure costs may apply.

Which one should you choose?

Want a self-hosted Gemini-style interface

LibreChat supports Gemini alongside OpenAI, Anthropic, local models, agents, files, web search, and tools.

LibreChat

Want the broadest self-hosted AI platform

Open WebUI combines local and cloud models, knowledge bases, multimodal AI, web search, tools, agents, and multi-user deployments.

Open WebUI

Want to run AI completely locally

Jan runs local models offline while also allowing cloud providers when more capable hosted models are needed.

Jan

Want maximum model choice

Cherry Studio connects to many providers and local models with chat, agents, MCP tools, knowledge bases, and document processing.

Cherry Studio

Want to chat with your own documents

AnythingLLM focuses on document ingestion, local RAG, knowledge bases, agents, and self-hosted workspaces.

AnythingLLM

Want a lightweight multi-model interface

Zola provides a simpler self-hosted interface for Gemini, other cloud providers, and local Ollama models.

Zola