Comparison

MLC Chat vs Cutting

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

Cutting

Read full description

Frustrated with endless "Who's up for coffee?" threads that go nowhere? Tired of dealing with heavy event planners, noisy group chats, and scheduling headaches just to step away from your desk? Meet Cutting. Cutting is a no-nonsense, real-time coordination tool built for one single purpose: getting your small, private group together for immediate, real-world breaks without the friction. No chat. No scheduling. No planning. Just zero-friction, spontaneous breaks. Why it's different: * Strictly Immediate: Everything happens now. There is no option to schedule for later. Breaks go live for 5 minutes, keeping things truly spontaneous. * Zero Clutter: No comments, no likes, no reactions, and absolutely no group chat. You only see who is "In" or "Out." * Private Groups: Built for close-knit teams and tight friend groups (up to 25 members per group). * Ephemeral Moments: Capture a quick, zero-fuss photo during your 30-minute meetup window to share the vibe locally with the team. Stop overthinking your downtime. Get your team together, get your head out of the screen, and take a real break.

Screenshots

MLC Chat2 screens
Cutting4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Cutting at every 2 days against MLC Chat's every 2 months. Cutting also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, Cutting every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
MLC Chat versus Cutting: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMLC ChatCutting
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (78 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews68.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings78 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.7 GB39 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperTianqi ChenRahul Dhaundiyal

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

Cutting

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

MLC Chat

No in-app purchases

None

Cutting

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is MLC Chat free?
MLC Chat is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Cutting free?
Cutting is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do MLC Chat or Cutting have ads?
Neither MLC Chat nor Cutting shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MLC Chat or Cutting?
MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, and Cutting every 2 days. Most recently, MLC Chat was updated on October 14, 2026 and Cutting on September 18, 2026.

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