Quick answer: The best Backyard AI alternatives keep inference on your own machine, so privacy stays identical, the difference is effort. SillyTavern + Ollama gives power users total control, KoboldCpp suits roleplay tinkerers, and a packaged companion is the lowest-effort, done-for-you route. All are private; pick by how much assembly you enjoy.
Backyard AI made local AI companions approachable, a friendly desktop app that runs open-weight models on your own machine. If you’re hunting for a Backyard AI alternative, you’re already in good territory: you’ve accepted that local is the private way to do this, and you’re just looking for a better fit. This is the honest rundown of the real options, what each is good at, and how to choose without the marketing fog.
What you’re actually choosing between
First, set expectations. Backyard AI is a solid, free, local app, there’s nothing wrong with it that sends people looking. Usually the search is about fit: maybe you want something more companion-focused, maybe you want a different model setup, maybe you want it more done-for-you, or maybe you just want to compare before committing. All of these alternatives keep inference on your own hardware, so the privacy floor is the same. The differences are in experience, not in whether your chats stay local. For why that floor matters in the first place, see our AI companion privacy guide.
The honest field of alternatives
| Option | Price | Setup | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| SillyTavern + Ollama | Free | High (DIY) | Power users who want total control |
| KoboldCpp | Free | Medium | Roleplay tinkerers |
| LM Studio / Jan | Free | Low-medium | General local chat |
| Packaged companion | Paid once | Lowest | ”Just make it work” companion users |
Each of these is a legitimate path; the right one depends on how much assembly you enjoy.
For maximum control: SillyTavern + Ollama
If you outgrew Backyard because you want more control rather than less, the open power-user stack is the move. Ollama runs the model on loopback, and SillyTavern is the deep, configurable front-end on top. It’s the most flexible roleplay setup that exists, character cards, lorebooks, sampler control, the works, at the cost of being the most to assemble. Our easy SillyTavern alternative guide covers when that complexity is worth it and when it isn’t.
For the model itself, an uncensored 8B-24B sized to your VRAM is the sweet spot, see best local LLMs for roleplay.
For roleplay tinkerers: KoboldCpp
KoboldCpp is the lighter, roleplay-flavored runtime a lot of Backyard users graduate to or sideways into. It’s free, it’s fast, and it gives you direct control over the model and sampling. If you like being close to the metal but don’t want the full SillyTavern build-out, it’s a comfortable middle.
For “just make it work”: a packaged companion
The opposite direction from “more control” is “less hassle.” If you liked that Backyard ran locally but wished it were even more turnkey, and built around a companion relationship rather than a character library, a packaged local companion is the alternative. It installs the whole stack in one step, picks a model for your hardware automatically, and ships with persistent memory designed in, so the companion remembers you across sessions without you wiring up a memory layer. It’s a paid-once product rather than a free tool, and the thing you’re buying is not having to assemble or maintain any of it.
We compare the two head-to-head in Ember vs Backyard AI.
A word on staying local
Whichever alternative you land on, one principle keeps your privacy intact: stay in local mode unless you genuinely need otherwise. Several of these apps offer optional cloud tiers for running bigger models on remote hardware, and the moment you switch one on, your chats start traveling to a server like any hosted app. That’s a fine choice if your machine can’t run what you want, but make it deliberately. The default that keeps your conversations on your own disk is the local one, and it’s the reason you’re reading an alternatives guide instead of a cloud roundup.
How to choose
Run yourself through three questions:
- Do you enjoy configuring software? Yes → SillyTavern or KoboldCpp. No → a packaged companion.
- Is it a character hub or one relationship you want? Hub → Backyard or SillyTavern. Relationship → a companion-first app.
- Is your budget zero, or is your time worth more than $29? Zero → the free DIY stack. Time-poor → paid-once and done.
There’s no wrong answer here, because every option on this list keeps your conversations on your own machine, which is the whole point of leaving the cloud. The only question is how much of the assembly you want to do yourself.