Local AI Document Chat in 2026: AnythingLLM (64k Stars) vs Khoj vs PrivateGPT - Chat with Your PDFs Offline

AnythingLLM (64,364 stars), Khoj (36,218) and PrivateGPT (57,407) let you chat with your PDFs, notes and code locally - your documents never leave your machine.

💡 What You Will Learn

AnythingLLM (64,364 stars), Khoj (36,218) and PrivateGPT (57,407) let you chat with your PDFs, notes and code locally - your documents never leave your machine.

## The short answer **AnythingLLM** (64,364 stars, MIT) is the easiest all-in-one: desktop app, web UI, works with Ollama/OpenAI/anything, and has a built-in document workspace. **Khoj** (36,218 stars, AGPL-3.0) is a "second brain" - it indexes your notes, PDFs and even your calendar, and answers from them. **PrivateGPT** (57,407 stars, Apache-2.0) is the developer option: an API layer for RAG on local models with full control. ## Fastest start - AnythingLLM desktop 1. Download the desktop app (Windows/macOS/Linux) from the GitHub releases. 2. Start Ollama (177,825 stars) and pull a model: `ollama pull llama3.1:8b` 3. In AnythingLLM settings, select Ollama as the LLM provider and pick the model. 4. Create a workspace, upload PDFs, and start chatting - it builds a vector index automatically. ## Comparing the three | Tool | Stars | Best for | Setup | |:-----|------:|:---------|:------| | AnythingLLM | 64,364 | Non-developers, quick start | 10 min | | Khoj | 36,218 | Personal knowledge base | 20 min | | PrivateGPT | 57,407 | Developers, custom RAG API | 40 min | ## Real numbers - AnythingLLM embeds documents locally by default (free, private) and supports 10+ vector databases. - Khoj syncs with Obsidian, Notion, Google Docs and more - chat from your phone too. - With an 8B model on a 16GB Mac, you get ~20-40 tokens/sec - plenty for document Q&A. ## FAQ **Q: Do I need a GPU?** A: No - an 8B model runs fine on CPU (slower) or Apple Silicon. Use a 3-4B model for weak laptops. **Q: Which vector database?** A: AnythingLLM's built-in LanceDB works out of the box; use Qdrant/Chroma for larger corpora. **Q: Can I use cloud models instead?** A: Yes - all three support OpenAI/Anthropic APIs if you prefer cloud, but then documents are sent to the API.