Ollama

Ollama is an open-source framework that allows you to run and manage large language models (LLMs) locally on your machine. It provides a simple way to download, run, and interact with various open-source models.

Use Cases

• Local development and testing of AI applications
• Privacy-focused AI interactions (all data stays on your machine)
• Personal AI assistant without cloud dependencies
• Educational purposes and experimentation with LLMs

Limitations

While Ollama is user-friendly and great for getting started with LLMs, it has some performance limitations:

• Slower inference compared to optimized frameworks like vLLM
• No tensor parallelism support, limiting the ability to distribute model computation across GPUs
• Lacks KV cache quantization, resulting in higher memory usage during inference

Despite these limitations, Ollama remains a popular choice for developers who prioritize ease of use and local deployment over maximum performance.