AI tool comparison
Continue vs LM Studio
Which one should you ship with? Here is the side-by-side panel verdict, pricing read, reviewer split, and community vote comparison.
Developer Tools
Continue
Open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains
100%
Panel ship
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Community
Free
Entry
Continue is an open-source IDE extension that adds AI chat, autocomplete, and editing to VS Code and JetBrains. Connect any LLM — local or cloud. Customizable with your own prompts and context.
Developer Tools
LM Studio
Desktop app for running local LLMs with a ChatGPT-like UI
100%
Panel ship
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Community
Free
Entry
LM Studio provides a beautiful desktop app for running local LLMs. Features include a chat UI, model browser, local server mode (OpenAI-compatible API), and hardware optimization for Apple Silicon and NVIDIA GPUs.
Reviewer scorecard
“This is the kind of tool that makes you wonder how you worked without it.”
“Solid execution. Does what it promises and the DX is clean.”
“Best UX for local models by far. The model browser with VRAM requirements shown upfront saves trial-and-error. Hardware optimization actually works.”
“The team ships fast and responds to feedback. Good sign.”
“The local server mode is the killer feature — run any local model with an OpenAI-compatible API. Drop it into any project that uses the OpenAI SDK.”
“The UI is gorgeous — it feels like a native Mac app. Browse models, download, chat. No terminal needed. If Ollama is for developers, LM Studio is for everyone else.”
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