Comparison

MLC Chat vs Pliko Archive

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

MLC Chat

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
Read full description

MLC Chat lets users chat with open language models locally on ipads and iphones. After a model is downloaded to the app, everything runs locally without server support, and it works without internet connections do not record any information. Because the models run locally, it only works for the devices with sufficient VRAM depending on the models being used. MLC Chat is part of open source project MLC LLM, with allows any language model to be deployed natively on a diverse set of hardware backends and native applications. MLC Chat is a runtime that runs different open model architectures on your phone. The app is intended for non-commercial purposes. It allows you to run open-language models downloaded from the internet. Each model can be subject to its respective licenses.

About

Pliko Archive

Features
Read full description

Pliko is a private, beautifully calm second brain for the web. Save any tweet or Reddit post — Pliko keeps a full copy in your personal archive, even if the original gets deleted. No feeds. No recommendations. No algorithms. Just the things you chose to save, organized however you want them. — SAVE FROM ANYWHERE — • Tap "Save to Pliko" in the iOS share sheet from any app • Paste a tweet or Reddit URL directly into Pliko • Works with the official X (Twitter) and Reddit apps, Safari, Mail, Messages — anywhere iOS lets you share a link — ORGANIZE YOUR WAY — • Tag posts with custom labels you create • Filter your feed by one or more labels at a time • Attach private notes to any saved post — markdown supported • Full-text search across everything you've saved — PLIKO PRO — • AI Semantic Search: ask "tweets that made me think about productivity" and find them — no exact keywords needed • Automatic Media Archival: photos, videos, and GIFs are downloaded to your private archive so they survive even when the original gets deleted • Unlimited daily saves (Free: 50/day, Pro: 200/day) • 7-day free trial on the Monthly plan • Lifetime option for a one-time payment — DESIGNED FOR READERS — Pliko's aesthetic is intentionally calm: aged-paper colors, slow typography, no notifications, no engagement loops. It's a place for thoughtful things, not a place that demands your attention. — PRIVATE BY DEFAULT — Your archive is yours. No social features, no public profiles, no recommendation engine, no ads. Sign in with Apple, Google, or email and your saved content is visible only to you. Learn more at getpliko.com Privacy policy: getpliko.com/privacy Terms: getpliko.com/terms Support: getpliko.com/support

Screenshots

MLC Chat2 screens
Pliko Archive4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MLC Chat at none against Pliko Archive's 3. Pliko Archive's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pliko Archive sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. MLC Chat asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
MLC Chat versus Pliko Archive: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMLC ChatPliko Archive
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (78 ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.3% of reviews
Number of ratings78 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.7 GB61 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperTianqi ChenDaishi Tech Pte. Ltd.

Bugs and requests

MLC Chat

Reported bugs

17 issues
  • 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
Show 12 more
  • RedPajama model crashes, custom model download removed
  • App closes when hitting send on iPhone 13
  • Conversation resets when app is backgrounded
  • Vicuna and Mistral 7B models cause crashes
  • Some 7b q4f16/q4f32 models crash on iPhone 15 Pro
  • App crashes on iPhone 13 mini
  • Cannot load other models from URL
  • Crash on iPhone 12
  • Severe heating and frequency reduction on A15
  • Low VRAM failed initialization on 3GB LP DDR4X phone
  • Cannot run 4bit model on iPhone 15 with 8GB RAM
  • Loading models from HF MLC official Repo causes crashes

Requested features

14 requests
  • 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
Show 9 more
  • Information on VRAM requirements per phone/model
  • Ability to change system message/create custom profiles
  • Ability to edit responses and system prompt
  • Add coffee support
  • Delete downloaded models
  • Change settings per model (repetition penalties, temperature)
  • How-to guide for importing/recompiling LLMs
  • Estimate model compatibility before download
  • Support for CN and ZH languages

Pliko Archive

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

MLC Chat

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Pliko Archive

Subscriptions2
  • Pliko Pro Monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Pliko Pro Annual$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pliko Pro Lifetime$99.00

Questions

Is MLC Chat free?
MLC Chat is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pliko Archive free?
Pliko Archive is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do MLC Chat or Pliko Archive have ads?
Neither MLC Chat nor Pliko Archive shows ads.

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