Ollama is a free tool that downloads and runs large language models directly on your own computer, instead of sending your messages to a company's servers over the internet. Once a model is downloaded, it can run completely offline.

AI & ML — INTRODUCTION

What Is Ollama? Run LLMs on Your Own Computer, Explained

Every time you use a chatbot online, your message travels to a company’s servers, gets processed there, and the answer travels back. Ollama skips all of that — the entire model runs on your own computer instead.

The Quick Answer

Ollama is a free tool that downloads a large language model straight onto your own computer and runs it there — no internet connection required once it’s installed, no company seeing what you type, no API key, no monthly bill. You get a private, offline-capable version of the same kind of AI assistant you’d otherwise reach over the internet.

What the Experts Say

Ollama’s own project describes itself simply as a lightweight framework built for exactly this job — packaging up a model’s weights and settings into one bundle so it can be downloaded and run locally with minimal setup, rather than requiring a dedicated machine-learning environment to get started. See Ollama’s official documentation.

How It Actually Works

1
One command downloads a model. Ollama connects to a library of ready-to-use models — you type one command, and the model downloads to your computer.
2
Your own hardware does the thinking. Once downloaded, every response gets generated by your computer’s own CPU or GPU — no request ever leaves your machine.
3
Bigger models need more memory. A model’s size (measured in billions of parameters) roughly determines how much RAM your computer needs to run it comfortably.
4
It works offline. Once a model is downloaded, you can turn off your internet connection entirely and it will keep responding — nothing about generating a reply requires a live connection.

Pick a Model for Your Machine

Not every model fits on every computer — larger models need more memory. Select how much RAM your computer has and see which model sizes would run comfortably.

See What Installing a Model Looks Like

Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough of what actually happens when someone installs and runs a model with Ollama for the first time. Click through it below.

👉 This is a scripted walkthrough for teaching purposes, not a live terminal — but every line matches what Ollama actually prints when you run this for real.

Fun Fact

Ollama isn’t limited to one company’s models — its library includes models from Meta, Google, Microsoft, and several independent AI labs, all installable with the exact same one-line command.

Test Yourself

What does Ollama actually do?

Once a model is downloaded through Ollama, what do you need to generate a response?

Ready to customize a model’s behavior and call it from your own code? Continue to the Intermediate level →