Comparison

Local Chat vs SecondBrain Pro

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

Head to head
About

Local Chat

Run powerful open language models directly on your Apple devices, even offline. Enjoy private conversations with AI assistants that can be customized to your needs. Save and sync chats across your Mac, iPad, and iPhone.

Highlights
  • Offline AI chat
  • Open language models
  • Private conversations
  • Cross-device sync
  • Customizable personality
  • Model selection
Features
Read full description

Local Chat allows you to run the latest open language models on your Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Once you've downloaded the models, you can use the chat function even when your device is offline. Your chats remain totally private, since no internet connection is required to interact with the chatbots. It's like having your very own ChatGPT right on your device. You can choose to save your chat history on your devices or delete your chats automatically after you're finished. Any chats that you choose to save in your history will be synced via your private iCloud storage to your other devices. Try leading models from the open-source community, including Llama, Gemma, Qwen, Mistral, DeepSeek, and Kimi. Choose from different sizes to find the best fit for your device. You can also customize the chatbot's personality with a system prompt, whether you prefer a helpful assistant, an encouraging coach, a witty conversationalist, or anything else you can imagine. The chat function works with the following devices: - Mac (M1 and later) - iPhone 12 and later - iPad Pro (M1 and later) - iPad Air (4th generation and later) - iPad mini (6th generation and later) - iPad (10th generation and later) On earlier devices, you can view your chat history from your other devices synced via your private iCloud storage. Local Chat is just getting started, and we're planning to continue adding new features in the coming months. If you have any feedback about the app, we'd love to hear it at feedback@localchat.co. --- Privacy policy: https://localchat.co/privacy Terms of use: https://localchat.co/terms

About

SecondBrain Pro

Features
Read full description

Your Personal AI-Augmented Memory SecondBrain helps you capture, organize, and recall your thoughts, ideas, and learnings using voice-first capture and AI-powered search. INSTANT VOICE CAPTURE • Tap to record, automatic transcription • Works on iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad • Background recording for long thoughts • Premium Neural TTS for voice playback AI-POWERED RECALL • Natural language search: "What did I learn about React last week?" • On-device AI chat with your memory context • Temporal queries: "yesterday", "last month", "last summer" • Smart tagging and categorization CHOOSE YOUR STORAGE FREE - Local Only • Store memories on your device • Voice capture with standard TTS • On-device AI chat (10 memory context) • Perfect for getting started STANDARD - CHF 7.99 (One-Time) • Everything in Free + • iCloud Sync across all your Apple devices • Premium Neural TTS voices • Expanded AI context (50 memories) • Export to JSON/Markdown • iPhone ↔ iPad ↔ Watch ↔ Mac sync PREMIUM - CHF 17.99 (One-Time) • Everything in Standard + • Custom CloudFlare Worker backend • AI Auto-Correction of voice input • AI Summarization of search results • Quality Boosting for better relevance • GDPR compliant, EU servers PRIVACY-FIRST • No account required (Free & Standard tiers) • On-device AI processing (iOS 26+ Apple Intelligence) • Optional bring-your-own-backend (Premium) • End-to-end encrypted sync (iCloud) • You own your data, always KEY FEATURES • Voice recognition in multiple languages • Real-time transcription overlay • Memory types: Note, Task, Learning, Decision, Discovery • Tag-based organization • Temporal search ("today", "last week", "last year") • Export your data anytime • Dark mode support • Apple Watch companion app PRICING • FREE: 100 local memories • STANDARD: CHF 7.99 (iCloud Sync, unlimited) • PREMIUM: CHF 17.99 (CloudFlare AI, unlimited)

Screenshots

Local Chat4 screens
SecondBrain Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Local Chat at every 9 days against SecondBrain Pro's every 2 months. SecondBrain Pro's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). 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. Local Chat sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month and SecondBrain Pro sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Local Chat ships an update every 9 days, SecondBrain Pro every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Local Chat versus SecondBrain Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLocal ChatSecondBrain Pro
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (56 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews71.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings56 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size164 MB10 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperAnthony R. DePasqualeHeinrich Krupp

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Local Chat

Subscriptions2
  • Local Chat Pro$8.991 Month
  • Local Chat Pro3 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Local Chat Pro$99.99
2 purchases

SecondBrain Pro

One-time2
  • Standard$7.99
  • SecondBrain PREMIUM$17.99

Questions

Is Local Chat free?
Local Chat is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SecondBrain Pro free?
SecondBrain Pro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Local Chat or SecondBrain Pro have ads?
Neither Local Chat nor SecondBrain Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Local Chat or SecondBrain Pro?
Local Chat ships an update every 9 days, and SecondBrain Pro every 2 months. Most recently, Local Chat was updated on September 25, 2026 and SecondBrain Pro on September 17, 2026.

Other comparisons