# MLC Chat vs Chat with AI

The clearest difference is review sentiment: MLC Chat at 68% against Chat with AI's 28%. MLC Chat also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 4). Chat with AI's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 months) and rating (4.6 vs 4.2). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Chat with AI sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per 7 days. MLC Chat asks for nothing beyond the download.

Chat with AI holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chat with AI has 683 ratings behind it against 78, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 68% of MLC Chat's written reviews are positive against 28% of Chat with AI's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, Chat with AI every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on August 19, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | MLC Chat | Chat with AI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.2 (78 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mlc-chat/id6448482937/reviews) | **[4.6 (683 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chat-with-ai-chatbot/id6479229260/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | 78 | **683** |
| Positive reviews | **68.3% of reviews** | 28.1% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Every 3 days** |
| Monetization | **Free** | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 1.7 GB | 3 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro** |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | [Tianqi Chen](https://appshunter.io/developer/1684828246) | [Sozzled LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1715133421) |

## What reviewers say

### MLC Chat

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mlc-chat/id6448482937)

Engage in conversations with open language models directly on your iPad or iPhone. Once a model is downloaded, all interactions occur locally, ensuring privacy and offline functionality without internet access. This app is designed for non-commercial use, allowing you to run various open-source language models on your device.

**Highlights:** Local AI model chat, Offline functionality, No internet required, Privacy-focused, Open-source project integration, Downloadable language models

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Runs fast locally
- ✅ Works offline
- 💰 Free to use
- 👍 Easy to use
- 💡 Supports various LLM models

**What reviewers complain about**

- ⚠️ Limited model selection
- 📉 High VRAM requirements
- 📱 Incompatible with older devices
- ❌ Crashes on some devices/models
- 🗄️ Cannot save conversations

**Reported bugs**

- Phi model crashes on iOS 26.0.1 17 Pro Max
- App crashes on iPad Pro 4th Gen, iPadOs 17.7
- RedPajama model crashes app on initialization
- Update is extremely slow
- Download model button disabled in new version

**Requested features**

- Ability to import custom models (from URL/Hugging Face)
- Support for more specific models (DeepSeek, Phi-2, Gemma 2B/7B, MoE Mixtral 8x7B, LLaVA)
- History of conversations
- iOS shortcuts support
- Ability to export entire responses


### Chat with AI

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chat-with-ai-chatbot/id6479229260)

Engage in advanced conversations with a powerful AI chatbot assistant. This app leverages cutting-edge Claude 3 AI technology for unparalleled text generation and streamlined communication. It also offers support for the Shortcuts app to simplify your scripts.

**Highlights:** Conversational AI, Advanced text generation, Claude 3 models, Shortcuts app support, Streamlined communication

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (4)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Unlimited Weekly | $14.99 | per 7 days |
| 10,000 Tokens | $1.99 | one-time |
| 50,000 Tokens | $4.99 | one-time |
| 150,000 Tokens | $9.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Seamless UI and easy to use
- 🚀 Awesome performance
- 💡 Serious chat with depth and quality

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Keyboard bug preventing collapse
- 🐛 Inability to copy suggested text
- 💰 Misleading app, not official
- 💰 Expensive, credits run out quickly
- 💰 Paywall, requires purchasing tokens

**Reported bugs**

- Keyboard bug preventing collapse
- Inability to copy suggested text
- Errors due to insufficient tokens

**Requested features**

- Allow copying of suggested text
- Improve object identification capabilities


## Frequently asked questions

### Is MLC Chat free?

MLC Chat is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Chat with AI free?

Chat with AI is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, MLC Chat or Chat with AI?

Chat with AI is rated higher. MLC Chat averages 4.2 out of 5 from 78 ratings, while Chat with AI averages 4.6 from 683 ratings.

### Do MLC Chat or Chat with AI have ads?

Neither MLC Chat nor Chat with AI shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, MLC Chat or Chat with AI?

MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, and Chat with AI every 3 days. Most recently, MLC Chat was updated on August 19, 2026 and Chat with AI on September 18, 2026.

---

*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*