# MLC Chat vs Mollama

The clearest difference is rating: MLC Chat at 4.2 against Mollama's 3.4. MLC Chat also leads on review sentiment (68% vs 42%). Mollama's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

MLC Chat holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 84 and 36 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of MLC Chat's written reviews are positive against 42% of Mollama's.

MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, Mollama every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | MLC Chat | Mollama |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.2 (84 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mlc-chat/id6448482937/reviews)** | [3.4 (36 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mollama/id6736948278/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **84** | 36 |
| Positive reviews | **68.3% of reviews** | 42.3% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Every 2 weeks** |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Size | 1.7 GB | 296 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, Mac** |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Tianqi Chen](https://appshunter.io/developer/1684828246) | [飞 杨](https://appshunter.io/developer/1493121831) |

## 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


### Mollama

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mollama/id6736948278)

This AI companion runs entirely on your device, ensuring complete privacy and security. It offers intelligent conversations, creative support, and problem-solving without sending your data to external servers. Enjoy offline functionality and real-time interaction with various AI models.

**Highlights:** Fully on-device processing, Zero data transmission, Offline functionality, Real-time interaction, Multi-model support, Contextual understanding

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Great for local models
- 👍 Native MLX support
- 👍 Simple interface
- 👍 Good for hobbyists
- 👍 Works with Llama

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Crashes frequently
- 🐛 Buggy and error-prone
- 🐛 Unusable with larger models
- 🐛 Download issues
- 🐛 Slow downloads

**Reported bugs**

- App crashes on sending messages with certain models
- Tokenizer metadata errors in offline mode
- Unsupported model type errors (e.g., Gemma, Qwen3)
- Models not loading when selected
- App freezes phone during model download

**Requested features**

- Add notification permission for background downloads
- Show LLM name for each answer
- Support for Qwen3 family of models
- Ability to use any HuggingFace MLX models
- Allow user-defined model folders


## Frequently asked questions

### Is MLC Chat free?

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

### Is Mollama free?

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

### Which has better reviews, MLC Chat or Mollama?

MLC Chat is rated higher. MLC Chat averages 4.2 out of 5 from 84 ratings, while Mollama averages 3.4 from 36 ratings.

### Do MLC Chat or Mollama have ads?

Neither MLC Chat nor Mollama shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, MLC Chat or Mollama?

MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, and Mollama every 2 weeks. Most recently, MLC Chat was updated on October 24, 2026 and Mollama on October 26, 2026.

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