llama.cpp
FreeInference of Meta's LLaMA model (and others) in pure C/C++. #opensource
FreeFree tier
Inputs: textOutputs: text
About llama.cpp
LLM inference in C/C++ with minimal setup and state-of-the-art performance on a wide range of hardware locally and in the cloud. Pure C/C++ implementation without dependencies, optimized for Apple Silicon, supports quantization (GGUF format), multimodal models, WebGPU browser inference, and an OpenAI-compatible API server. Open source project under ggml-org.
Key Features
Pure C/C++ implementation without any dependencies
Optimized for Apple Silicon as first-class citizen
State-of-the-art performance on CPUs and GPUs
Quantization support via GGUF format
Multimodal model support (text, images, etc.)
WebGPU support for browser-based inference
OpenAI-compatible API server (llama-server)
Integration with Hugging Face for model loading
Cross-platform: Windows, Linux, macOS (via brew, nix, winget, conda-forge, Docker)
Support for GPT-OSS models with native MXFP4 format
Pros & Cons
Pros
- No external dependencies – easy to compile and deploy
- High performance across diverse hardware (CPU/GPU)
- Actively maintained with frequent updates and community contributions
- Supports a wide range of model formats and quantization levels
- Open source with permissive license (MIT)
- Multimodal and WebGPU support for modern AI applications
Cons
- Primarily command-line oriented; may lack user-friendly GUI
- Requires some technical expertise to install and configure
- Performance can vary significantly on non-Apple hardware without GPU acceleration
- Not all models are supported out of the box; may require conversion
Best For
Running large language models locally on personal hardwareDeploying LLMs in cloud environments with minimal dependenciesBuilding OpenAI-compatible API endpoints for applicationsExperimenting with quantized models on resource-constrained devicesBrowser-based AI applications using WebGPUMultimodal AI applications (text, image, etc.)Research and development of new model architectures
FAQ
What is llama.cpp?
llama.cpp is an open-source C/C++ library for LLM inference, designed for minimal setup and high performance across various hardware, including Apple Silicon.
How do I install llama.cpp?
You can install it via brew, nix, winget, conda-forge, Docker, or build from source. See the quick start guide in the repository.
Does llama.cpp support GPU acceleration?
Yes, it supports GPU acceleration, particularly optimized for Apple Silicon, and also works on NVIDIA GPUs via CUDA.
Can I run multimodal models?
Yes, llama.cpp has added multimodal support, including for models like GPT-OSS.
Is there a web interface?
llama.cpp provides a server mode (llama-server) with an OpenAI-compatible API, and there are also third-party GUIs like the new WebUI.