You ran a model locally.
Now give it a personality.
Jan and LM Studio proved your hardware can run AI privately. But the AI still lives in a chat box. If you want one that feels like someone on your desktop — with a voice, a personality and a memory of you — that's a different kind of product.
Jan is an open-source app that runs AI models offline on your own hardware, for private chat. Stonic AI is a different kind of product: an AI character for Windows that talks with you in a natural voice, remembers you, has a personality you choose, and lives in a cinematic, JARVIS-style interface. Its AI runs on our servers (or on your own API keys with Lifetime), so if fully offline privacy is your top priority, Jan is the better fit.
Respect first: Jan is a genuinely good project. Free, open-source, millions of downloads, and it made "run AI on your own hardware" accessible to non-engineers. LM Studio and AnythingLLM deserve the same credit. If privacy and experimenting with models are what you love, keep them.
But all of them share one thing: the AI lives inside a chat box. It waits for you to type, and it never feels like anyone is there. People who search for a "Jan alternative" often want the opposite — an AI with a voice and a personality, that remembers them and lives on their screen. That's the experience Stonic AI is built around.
Stonic AI vs Jan, feature by feature.
| Capability | Stonic AI | Jan |
|---|---|---|
| Runs fully offline on your hardware | No — needs internet | |
| Pick and run your own open-source models | ||
| Chat with the AI | ||
| Natural voice conversations | ||
| A character with its own personality | Plain chat assistant | |
| Remembers you between conversations | Per-session chat | |
| Everyday things on your PC by voice | ||
| Setup | Installer, 5 minutes | Model downloads, settings, VRAM tuning |
| Interface | Cinematic desktop experience | Utilitarian chat UI |
| Price | From $19/mo | Free (open source) |
Choose Stonic AI if…
- You want an AI that feels like someone, not a chat box
- You want natural voice conversations with a character that remembers you
- You want a polished, ready experience instead of configuring models
- You care how it looks — your desktop becomes a sci-fi interface
Stick with Jan if…
- Fully offline, on-device privacy is your top priority
- You want to experiment with different open-source models
- You need a free tool and only need private chat
- You enjoy the tinkering itself — quantizations, GPU offloading, settings
Other alternatives worth knowing.
Stonic AI — the character upgrade
An AI character for Windows with a natural voice, a personality you choose, memory of you, and a cinematic interface. It can help with everyday things by voice too. Runs on our servers, not offline. From $19/month, or a one-time Lifetime option on your own API keys.
LM Studio — the closest sibling
Polished local model runner with great hardware controls. Same idea as Jan: private chat, fully offline.
AnythingLLM — best for documents
Chat with your own files privately, on your own machine.
Open Interpreter — the hacker route
Connects a model to code that runs on your machine — powerful, but terminal-based and technical.
The honest bottom line.
Keep Jan if your goal is private, offline chat or experimenting with models — Stonic doesn't try to beat it there. But if running a model locally was always about wanting an AI of your own — one with a voice, a personality and a memory of you, living on your desktop — Stonic AI is that experience, ready the moment you install it.
Frequently asked questions
Depends on what you want next. For another private, offline model runner: LM Studio. For chatting with your own documents: AnythingLLM. For code-based tinkering: Open Interpreter. For an AI character with a voice and personality that lives on your desktop: Stonic AI.
Jan runs AI models on your own hardware so you can chat with them privately, offline. Stonic AI is an experience: a character that talks with you out loud, remembers you, and lives in a cinematic interface on your desktop. Jan is about the model; Stonic is about the character.
No on both. Stonic AI is a closed-source product. Its AI runs on our servers on a monthly plan from $19 (no API key to bring), or on your own API keys with the one-time Lifetime option — so it needs an internet connection. The source code is not for sale.
Yes — they don't conflict. Some users keep Jan for private model experiments and run Stonic AI as the character that lives on their desktop.
Tools work for you. Stonic lives with you.
Feel the difference yourself. Five-minute setup.