Verdict: in the ollama vs lm studio decision, Ollama wins for developers and automation, and LM Studio wins for everyone else. If you are scripting agents, wiring a coding assistant into an editor, or running models on a server you administer, take Ollama: it is MIT-licensed, API-first and trivially scriptable. If you want a polished desktop app, a model browser you can hand to a non-technical colleague, and a licence you can point a compliance reviewer at, take LM Studio, which has been free ...