The short answer. If you want a chat client that never sends anything anywhere, Jan runs models entirely offline on your machine, and Atomic Chat does the same while also reaching cloud models. Cherry Studio and Chatbox are the multi-provider options — desktop clients that put several vendors behind one window with your own API keys. BoltAI is the polished Mac-native client for a single vendor’s models. ChatGPT’s own app is here for completeness; our data does not record its pricing model, so check the vendor’s page rather than assuming. The real decision is local versus cloud, and who holds your conversations.

This guide covers 11 ai chat clients for macOS. Every fact below is drawn from the same verified records that back each app’s own page. The recommendations are our editorial judgment, not payment.

Quick comparison

App What it is Pricing Licence Version
AppleAi AI chat client Open source not published 2.0
AQBot AI chat client Open source AGPL-3.0 0.0.162
Atomic Chat AI chat client Open source not published 2.1.2
BoltAI AI chat client not published not published 2.17.2
Chatbox AI chat client Open source not published 1.23.5
ChatGPT AI chat client not published not published 26.930.41038
Cherry Studio AI chat client Open source not published 2.1.4
Claude AI chat client not published not published 2.19675.0
Cursor Voice AI chat client Open source MIT 0.8.1.0
DeepDeck AI chat client Open source MIT 1.0.51
Jan productivity app Open source not published 0.8.4

What actually decides this

  • Local versus cloud models. A local model keeps your conversations and your prompts on your machine, and is generally smaller and less capable than a frontier cloud model. That trade is the central one in this category, and it is a genuine trade rather than a free win either way.
  • One vendor or many. A client tied to one provider is simpler and often better integrated. A multi-provider client lets you switch models and compare them, at the cost of bringing your own keys and managing them yourself.
  • Where your conversations are stored. A desktop client may keep history locally, sync it to the vendor, or keep nothing. For anything you would not want read back, this is the question to answer before you type.
  • What the app itself costs. The client may be free while the model is not. A free chat app that calls a paid API is free in the way a phone is free with a contract, and the API bill is the real price.
  • Tool use and files. Whether the client can attach files, run tools or connect to external services through a standard protocol decides how far it goes beyond a text box. It is the feature that separates a viewer from a workspace.

Our picks

  • Jan — It is an open-source alternative to hosted chat that runs on your own computer, which is the strongest form of “your conversations stay with you”. Choose it when you want a chat client that runs entirely offline.
  • Atomic Chat — It supports both local and cloud models and speaks MCP, so it can reach a hosted model when you want one and keep the work local when you do not. Choose it when you want local and cloud models in one open-source client.
  • Cherry Studio — It is a desktop client that supports multiple large language model providers, which is the multi-vendor case with your own accounts. Choose it when you want one desktop window for several model providers.
  • Chatbox — It is an open-source desktop client for a range of models, which makes it a straightforward way to reach more than one provider. Choose it when you want a simple, friendly desktop client for several models.
  • BoltAI — It is a Mac application built around one vendor’s models, which trades flexibility for integration; our data does not record its pricing model. Choose it when you want a polished Mac-native client for a single vendor’s models.

The apps

AppleAi

AppleAi is an AI chat client for macOS. Access multiple AI assistants from your menu bar with one shortcut. It is open source.

What it does. Menu bar access with a compact, distraction‑free chat window. Quick model switching with icons for each service. Global shortcut to toggle the window: ⌘E. Always on Top mode to keep the chat visible while you work.

AppleAi is listed with current version 2.0.

Full profile and verified facts for AppleAi →

AQBot

AQBot is an AI chat client for macOS. Open-source desktop AI workspace for multi-provider chat, agent workflows, knowledge bases, MCP tools, and an OpenAI-compatible API gateway. It is released under AGPL-3.0.

What it does. AQBot is a free open-source AI desktop client with multi-model chat, roles, Agent, MCP, Skills, local knowledge bases, backups, and a built-in AI gateway.

AQBot is listed with current version 0.0.162.

Full profile and verified facts for AQBot →

Atomic Chat

Atomic Chat is an AI chat client for macOS. Open-source AI chat client for local and cloud models with MCP support. It is open source.

What it does. Run open-weight LLMs locally from HuggingFace — Llama, Gemma, Qwen, Mistral, Phi, and others. Multi-Token Prediction (MTP) speculative decoding — 30–70% throughput boost on supported models, up to 3× on Gemma 4. DFlash block-diffusion decoding — up to 6× faster on Qwen 3.6, Gemma 4, Kimi K2.5. Flash Attention toggle (on / off / auto).

Atomic Chat is listed with current version 2.1.2.

Full profile and verified facts for Atomic Chat →

BoltAI

BoltAI is an AI chat client for macOS. A beautiful & powerful ChatGPT app for Mac. Stay ahead by integrating AI into your workflow today. Its pricing is not published.

What it does. BoltAI (Bolt AI) is a native AI app for Mac. Use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and local LLMs in one fast desktop app.

BoltAI is listed with current version 2.17.2.

Full profile and verified facts for BoltAI →

Chatbox

Chatbox is an AI chat client for macOS. User-friendly Desktop Client App for AI Models/LLMs (GPT, Claude, Gemini, Ollama…). It is open source.

What it does. Chatbox AI is a privacy-focused app to chat and work with GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, and more using your own API keys. Start for free.

Chatbox is listed with current version 1.23.5.

Full profile and verified facts for Chatbox →

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an AI chat client for macOS. A conversational AI system that listens, learns, and challenges. Its pricing is not published.

ChatGPT is listed with current version 26.930.41038.

Full profile and verified facts for ChatGPT →

Cherry Studio

Cherry Studio is an AI chat client for macOS. A desktop client that supports multiple large language model (LLM) providers. It is open source.

Cherry Studio is listed with current version 2.1.4.

Full profile and verified facts for Cherry Studio →

Claude

Claude is an AI chat client for macOS. Your AI partner on desktop. Fast, focused, and designed for deep work. Its pricing is not published.

What it does. Unfortunately, Claude isn’t available here.

Claude is listed with current version 2.19675.0.

Full profile and verified facts for Claude →

Cursor Voice

Cursor Voice is an AI chat client for macOS. Voice assistant that lives by your cursor, sees your screen, and can control apps via the OpenAI Realtime API. It is released under MIT.

What it does. A native macOS voice assistant that lives next to your cursor. It sees your screen, drives your Mac, and answers back — powered by the OpenAI Realtime API. Open source.

Cursor Voice is listed with current version 0.8.1.0.

Full profile and verified facts for Cursor Voice →

DeepDeck

DeepDeck is an AI chat client for macOS. Desktop AI workspace built on DeepSeek Harness for creating and reusing WebMCP tools for website tasks. It is released under MIT.

What it does. DeepDeck lets agents explore websites and save verified workflows as reusable WebMCP tools. Use existing tools or build new ones without teaching every click.

DeepDeck is listed with current version 1.0.51.

Full profile and verified facts for DeepDeck →

Jan

Jan is a productivity app for macOS. An open-source alternative to ChatGPT that runs entirely offline on your computer. It is open source.

What it does. Local AI Models: Download and run LLMs (Llama, Gemma, Qwen, GPT-oss etc.) from HuggingFace. Cloud Integration: Connect to GPT models via OpenAI, Claude models via Anthropic, Mistral, Groq, MiniMax, and others. Custom Assistants: Create specialized AI assistants for your tasks. OpenAI-Compatible API: Local server at localhost:1337 for other applications.

Jan is listed with current version 0.8.4.

Full profile and verified facts for Jan →

How to choose

Open source: AppleAi, AQBot, Atomic Chat, Chatbox, Cherry Studio, Cursor Voice, DeepDeck and Jan (8 of 11).

Common mistakes

  • Assuming a free client is free. You still pay the model provider, usually per use, and that is the bill that grows.
  • Pasting API keys into a client without checking where they are stored and whether they sync.
  • Expecting a local model to match a frontier cloud model. Local models are remarkable for their size and are still a different class of capability.
  • Forgetting that chat history may sync to the provider. The client being on your Mac does not mean the conversation is only on your Mac.

How this guide was put together

Each app’s facts come from its own record: the developer’s own pages and repository, the App Store listing where one exists, and the documentation, each with a source grade and an access date. Where a fact rests on the developer’s own statement rather than on something we verified independently, the sentence says so. Where our data has no value for something, the guide says “not published” instead of guessing.

A price appears here only where the record carries one from a stated source; the guide never estimates one, and it records the pricing model alongside so the two can be read together. Prices change and vary by region, so each app links to its own page for the current detail.

The facts and the recommendations are kept apart on purpose. Everything in the app entries, the comparison table and the answers above is composed from the records. The short answer, the criteria and the picks are our editorial judgment: they reflect what we would choose and why, and they are not paid for. Where we make a recommendation we name the condition it applies under, because we do not call anything “the best” without explaining the criteria.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I choose between these ai chat clients?

There is no single answer — it depends on what you need. This guide covers 11 ai chat clients: AppleAi, AQBot, Atomic Chat, BoltAI, Chatbox, ChatGPT, Cherry Studio, Claude, Cursor Voice, DeepDeck and Jan. They differ mainly in pricing model, licence and the trade-offs each one carries. Pick by the trade-off you care about rather than by rank.

Are these ai chat clients free?

Pricing across this group: open source (AppleAi, AQBot, Atomic Chat, Chatbox, Cherry Studio, Cursor Voice, DeepDeck and Jan) and not published (BoltAI, ChatGPT and Claude). Where we list pricing as not published, the developer does not state a model we could verify — check their own site before assuming anything about cost. We quote a price only where the record carries one from a stated source, and we never estimate one. Prices change and vary by region and by store, so always check the developer’s own page for the current figure.

Which of these ai chat clients are open source?

AppleAi (not published), AQBot (AGPL-3.0), Atomic Chat (not published), Chatbox (not published), Cherry Studio (not published), Cursor Voice (MIT), DeepDeck (MIT) and Jan (not published) are open source.

Do these ai chat clients support Apple Silicon?

Our data does not carry an explicit Apple Silicon statement for any app in this group, so we do not claim one. The absence of a statement is not the same as the absence of support.

How do I choose between them?

Start with how you pay: the guide groups these apps by pricing model, because the budget is the constraint most people actually have. Then check the trade-offs listed for each app: the limitations are the part that decides most people’s choice, because they describe what the app will not do for you.