cherry-studio vs chatbox
Two of the top projects in Desktop AI apps, side by side: who leads on each score part and who each one suits, then setup, license, activity and what each review found.
cherry-studio
Cross-platform desktop chat client for many cloud and local LLM providers
chatbox
Desktop and mobile chat client for OpenAI, Claude, Gemini and Ollama models
Verdict
cherry-studio ranks higher, 75 to 59. Of the 5 score parts we measure for both, cherry-studio leads on 3, chatbox on none and 2 are even.
- Adoptioncherry-studio leads by 37 points, 68 to 31: a wide gap.
- FreshnessEven at 100.
- Maintenancecherry-studio leads by 12 points, 87 to 75.
- Easy to runEven at 50.
- Agent-readycherry-studio leads by 70 points, 85 to 15: a wide gap.
Pick cherry-studio if you are
Individuals wanting one desktop client for many LLM providers and local models
- Supports cloud providers plus local Ollama and LM Studio in one client
- Runs the same prompt against multiple models in a single conversation
Pick chatbox if you are
Users who want a local-first desktop chat client for API and Ollama models
- Installers for Windows, macOS, Linux (AppImage), plus iOS, Android and a web version
- Supports OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Ollama and ChatGLM-6B from one client
| What we compare | cherry-studio | chatbox |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 68, popular | 31, known |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 87, healthy | 75, fair |
| Easy to run | 50, easy | 50, easy |
| Agent-ready | 85, ready | 15, none |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 52.6k | 42k |
| License | AGPL-3.0 (copyleft) | GPL-3.0 (copyleft) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Sep 2026 |
| Last release | Oct 2026 | Sep 2026 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Docker | No | No |
| GPU | Optional | Not needed |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Mentioned | Mentioned |
cherry-studio
Cherry Studio is a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux that talks to cloud providers such as OpenAI, Gemini and Anthropic, and to local models through Ollama and LM Studio. It includes 300+ preset assistants, simultaneous multi-model chats, document handling (text, images, Office, PDF), WebDAV backup and an MCP server integration. An Enterprise Edition with admin backend and shared knowledge bases is sold separately.
Who it is for: Individuals wanting one desktop client for many LLM providers and local models
Strengths
- Supports cloud providers plus local Ollama and LM Studio in one client
- Runs the same prompt against multiple models in a single conversation
- Installs as a desktop app with no environment setup, on Windows, Mac and Linux
- 300+ preconfigured assistants plus custom assistant creation
Weaknesses
- AGPL-3.0; commercial use outside AGPL terms needs a separate license
- Admin backend, team knowledge base and access control are Enterprise-only
- Plugin system, OCR, TTS and ASR are listed as roadmap items, not shipped
- No Docker or web deployment; desktop only, so no multi-user server in Community Edition
- GPU optional
- Needs Ollama or LM Studio (optional, for local models), WebDAV (optional, for backup)
- Models: OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic, Ollama, LM Studio
chatbox
Chatbox is an Electron app (TypeScript, React) that connects to hosted LLM APIs and local models through Ollama. Chat data is stored on the device. It ships installers for Windows, macOS and Linux, plus iOS and Android apps and a web version.
Who it is for: Users who want a local-first desktop chat client for API and Ollama models
Strengths
- Installers for Windows, macOS, Linux (AppImage), plus iOS, Android and a web version
- Supports OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Ollama and ChatGLM-6B from one client
- Chat data stays on the device; no server deployment needed
- Prompt library, Markdown, LaTeX and code highlighting, DALL-E-3 image generation
Weaknesses
- README lists no document chat, RAG or agent features
- Community Edition is synced with a separate pro repo; feature parity is unclear
- Provider list in README is dated (llama2, ChatGLM-6B); current coverage is unclear
- GPL-3.0 license may restrict embedding in proprietary products
- no GPU
- Needs Ollama (optional, for local models), API keys for hosted providers
- Models: OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Claude, Google Gemini Pro, Ollama
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