Open Source LLMs Compared 2026 – 20+ Models You Should Know

Last updated: March 2026 – GitHub stars and model versions are updated regularly.

Why Open Source LLMs Matter Now

2025 was the year open-source LLMs closed the gap with proprietary models. In 2026, they're on par in many areas – or better. For businesses, that means more control, less vendor lock-in, and better GDPR compliance.

This article gives you a comprehensive overview of the most important open-source LLMs – with real GitHub data, hardware requirements, and clear recommendations.

The Big Comparison Table

Model	Provider	Parameters	GitHub ⭐	License	Standout Feature
Llama 4 Scout	Meta	109B (17B active)	75,000+	Llama License	10M token context
Llama 4 Maverick	Meta	400B (17B active)	75,000+	Llama License	Meta's best MoE model
Qwen3.5-122B	Alibaba	122B (10B active)	18,000+	Apache 2.0	Beats GPT-5-mini
Qwen3-235B	Alibaba	235B	18,000+	Apache 2.0	Thinking mode
DeepSeek-R1	DeepSeek	671B (37B active)	30,000+	MIT	Chain-of-thought reasoning
DeepSeek-V3	DeepSeek	671B (37B active)	30,000+	MIT	Multi-token prediction
Mistral Large 2	Mistral	123B	37,000+	Apache 2.0	128k context, 80+ languages
Mixtral 8x22B	Mistral	141B (39B active)	37,000+	Apache 2.0	Sparse MoE pioneer
Gemma 3	Google	1B–27B	6,000+	Gemma License	Multimodal, on-device
Phi-4	Microsoft	14B	12,000+	MIT	Reasoning on small hardware
Phi-4-Mini	Microsoft	3.8B	12,000+	MIT	Runs on smartphones
Command R+	Cohere	104B	4,700+	CC-BY-NC	RAG-optimized, 10 languages
Yi-1.5	01.AI	6B–34B	7,800+	Apache 2.0	Strong multilingual support
DBRX	Databricks	132B (36B active)	3,200+	Databricks Open	Enterprise MoE
Falcon 3	TII	1B–10B	2,000+	Apache 2.0	UAE research project
StableLM 2	Stability AI	1.6B–12B	8,500+	Stability License	Compact & efficient
InternLM 3	Shanghai AI Lab	8B	7,200+	Apache 2.0	Long context up to 1M
OLMo 2	AI2	7B–13B	4,800+	Apache 2.0	Fully open (data + code)
Jamba 1.5	AI21 Labs	52B (12B active)	900+	Apache 2.0	Mamba-Transformer hybrid
StarCoder 2	BigCode	3B–15B	4,500+	BigCode OpenRAIL-M	Code specialist
CodeLlama	Meta	7B–70B	16,500+	Llama License	Code generation & infilling
DeepSeek-Coder-V2	DeepSeek	236B (21B active)	12,000+	MIT	Code + math specialist
Qwen2.5-Coder	Alibaba	0.5B–32B	18,000+	Apache 2.0	Code completion, multi-lang

Top Models in Detail

🦙 Llama 4 (Meta)

Meta's latest generation comes in two flavors: Scout (109B, 10M context) and Maverick (400B, for quality). Both use Mixture-of-Experts – only 17B parameters are active per query.

Strengths:

• Largest context window of any open-source model (10M tokens with Scout)
• Strong community and ecosystem
• Multimodal (text + image)

Weaknesses:

• Llama License isn't "true" open source (commercial restrictions above 700M MAU)
• Large models require significant hardware

GitHub: github.com/meta-llama/llama-models · 75,000+ ⭐

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🌐 Qwen3.5 (Alibaba)

Currently the strongest open-source MoE model. 122B parameters, only 10B active – runs on a MacBook with 64 GB RAM. → Our Qwen3.5 deep dive

Strengths:

• Beats GPT-5-mini on most benchmarks
• Apache 2.0 – true open source
• 262k context window (expandable to 1M)

Weaknesses:

• No multimodal (text only)
• Chinese provider – compliance concern for some organizations

GitHub: github.com/QwenLM/Qwen3 · 18,000+ ⭐

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🔬 DeepSeek-R1

The model that shook the AI world in early 2025. 671B parameters with MoE (37B active), specialized in chain-of-thought reasoning.

Strengths:

• Reasoning quality on GPT-o1 level
• MIT license – maximum freedom
• "Thinking" mode shows the reasoning process

Weaknesses:

• Very large – local use only with high-end hardware
• Chinese provider

GitHub: github.com/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1 · 30,000+ ⭐

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🌊 Mistral Large 2

Mistral's flagship: 123B parameters, 128k context, 80+ languages. Europe's counterweight to the US and Chinese models.

Strengths:

• European provider (Paris) – easier GDPR narrative
• Strong multilingual capabilities
• Apache 2.0

Weaknesses:

• Smaller community than Llama or Qwen
• Fewer specialized variants

GitHub: github.com/mistralai/mistral-inference · 37,000+ ⭐

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💎 Gemma 3 (Google)

Google's open model family from 1B to 27B – optimized for on-device use. Multimodal from 4B.

Strengths:

• Multimodal (text + image) even in small variants
• Runs on smartphones and Raspberry Pi
• ShieldGemma for safety

Weaknesses:

• Gemma License has usage policies (not pure Apache 2.0)
• Maximum size only 27B

GitHub: github.com/google/gemma.cpp · 6,000+ ⭐

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🧠 Phi-4 (Microsoft)

Microsoft's "Small Language Model" with 14B parameters that beats larger models at reasoning tasks.

Strengths:

• Outstanding quality per parameter
• MIT license
• Runs on consumer hardware

Weaknesses:

• No multimodal in the base variant
• Small context window (16k)

GitHub: github.com/microsoft/phi-4 · 12,000+ ⭐

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Coding LLMs Compared

For developers, there are specialized code models:

Model	Parameters	Languages	Standout Feature
StarCoder 2	3B–15B	600+	Trained on The Stack v2
CodeLlama	7B–70B	~20	Infilling & long contexts
DeepSeek-Coder-V2	236B (21B active)	300+	Code + math combined
Qwen2.5-Coder	0.5B–32B	90+	Best open-source code model per size

Our recommendation: Qwen2.5-Coder-32B for maximum quality, StarCoder 2-3B if it needs to run locally on a laptop.

Decision Matrix: Which Model for Which Use Case?

Your Use Case	Recommended Model	Why
Analyze GDPR-sensitive documents	Qwen3.5-122B locally	Best quality/resource ratio
Code generation & refactoring	Qwen2.5-Coder-32B	Beats larger models at code
Complex reasoning	DeepSeek-R1	Chain-of-thought at GPT-o1 level
Run on smartphone/edge	Gemma 3 (4B) or Phi-4-Mini	Optimized for minimal hardware
RAG with company data	Command R+	Built for Retrieval-Augmented Generation
Maximum context (long documents)	Llama 4 Scout	10M token context window
European provider required	Mistral Large 2	French company, Apache 2.0
Fully open training data	OLMo 2	Only model with completely open data
Multi-agent workflows	DeepSeek-V3 or Qwen3-235B	Strong tool use and function calling

Hardware Guide: What Do You Actually Need?

RAM / VRAM	Models (quantized, Q4)	Example Hardware
8 GB	Phi-4-Mini, Gemma 3 (1B–4B)	MacBook Air M3, RTX 3060
16 GB	Phi-4, Gemma 3 (12B), Yi-1.5-9B	MacBook Pro M3, RTX 4070
32 GB	Mistral 7B, Llama 3.3-8B, Qwen2.5-14B	MacBook Pro M4, RTX 4090
64 GB	Qwen3.5-122B, Mixtral 8x22B	MacBook Pro M4 Max
128 GB+	DeepSeek-R1, Llama 4 Maverick	Multi-GPU server, Mac Studio Ultra

Licenses: The Devil in the Details

Not every "open-source" model is equally open:

License	Models	Commercial Use	Restrictions
Apache 2.0	Qwen, Mistral, Yi, Falcon, OLMo	✅ Unrestricted	None
MIT	DeepSeek, Phi	✅ Unrestricted	None
Llama License	Llama 4, CodeLlama	✅ Up to 700M MAU	Above 700M MAU: Meta license needed
Gemma License	Gemma 3	✅ With conditions	Usage policies apply
CC-BY-NC	Command R+	❌ Non-commercial	Research & personal only

Tip: For commercial projects, prefer Apache 2.0 or MIT. With Llama, check carefully whether the usage terms fit your case.

How to Run Open-Source LLMs Locally

The easiest ways to start an open-source model on your machine:

1. Ollama – One command: ollama run qwen3.5 – done
2. LM Studio – GUI for non-developers, drag & drop GGUF models
3. vLLM – For production deployments with high throughput
4. llama.cpp – C++ runtime, maximum CPU performance

→ More about GGUF, GGML, and Safetensors

Our Take

The question is no longer "cloud or local?" – it's "which model for which task?". Our recommendation:

• Cloud APIs for customer chatbots and creative tasks (Claude, GPT-5)
• Open source locally for sensitive data, bulk processing, and prototyping
• Hybrid architecture as the goal: the best model for every job, regardless of provider

The future doesn't belong to one model – it belongs to the architecture that's flexible enough to use any model.

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→ Our AI services → Qwen3.5 deep dive: 122B parameters on your laptop → AI agents compared