Comparison

Aspen Local AI vs Orbit

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

Head to head
About

Aspen Local AI

This AI assistant runs entirely on your computer, offering complete privacy for your conversations. Connect it to your desktop instance to chat with your private AI from anywhere, ensuring your data never leaves your machine.

Highlights
  • Runs AI models locally on your hardware
  • Complete privacy, data stays on your machine
  • Secure connection to desktop Aspen instance
  • Chat with AI from anywhere via companion app
Features
Read full description

Aspen is a private AI assistant that runs entirely on your own computer. This app is a companion to Aspen for Mac (free at runonaspen.com). The AI models run locally on your machine — your conversations never touch our servers. Connect this app to your Mac and chat with your private AI from anywhere. Features: - Chat with AI models running on your own hardware - Complete privacy — nothing leaves your machine - Connects securely to your desktop Aspen instance Requires the free Aspen desktop app installed on your Mac.

About

Orbit

Features
Read full description

Write messy. Find the patterns later. Orbit is a calm place to dump every thought — work, life, half-formed ideas — and make sense of them later. Not a diary. Not a wellness app. A mind you can search. Most notes go somewhere to be forgotten. Orbit is built for the opposite: the more you write, the more it gives back. CAPTURE WITHOUT FRICTION Open Orbit and write. No folders to pick, no tags to invent, no blank-page ceremony. Get the thought down — from the app, the Share Sheet, or a Home Screen widget — and move on. ASK YOUR OWN MIND ANYTHING Later, ask Orbit a real question — "what have I been worried about lately?", "what did I decide about the launch?" — and get an answer drawn from everything you've written, alongside the entries it came from. FIND THE PATTERNS YOU'D MISS Orbit quietly surfaces the themes running through your thinking — the ideas you keep circling back to, the worries that recur — so you can see what's hard to notice one entry at a time. A WEEKLY LOOK BACK Each week, Orbit reflects your thinking back to you: what you focused on, what shifted, what's worth returning to. BUILT TO BE CALM One clear thing to do on every screen. A warm, editorial design that feels more like paper than a dashboard. No streaks, no badges, no guilt. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Only you can see what you write. Orbit is a place for your real, unfiltered thinking. Write messy. Orbit finds the patterns later. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.useorbit.ink/privacy

Screenshots

Aspen Local AI4 screens
Orbit4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Aspen Local AI at none against Orbit's 2. On price, update cadence, 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. Orbit sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Aspen Local AI asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aspen Local AI ships an update every 2 weeks, Orbit every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Aspen Local AI versus Orbit: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAspen Local AIOrbit
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB16 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperMayank MehtaRuntime Labs LLC

In-app purchases

None

Aspen Local AI

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Orbit

Subscriptions2
  • Orbit Pro (Monthly)$4.991 Month
  • Orbit Pro (Yearly)$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Aspen Local AI free?
Aspen Local AI is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Orbit free?
Orbit is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Aspen Local AI or Orbit have ads?
Neither Aspen Local AI nor Orbit shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Aspen Local AI or Orbit?
Aspen Local AI ships an update every 2 weeks, and Orbit every 9 days. Most recently, Aspen Local AI was updated on September 19, 2026 and Orbit on September 22, 2026.

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