--- title: I finally found an open-source local LLM that actually... description: A hands-on experience report running Google DeepMind's Gemma 4 open-weight model family locally using LM Studio and llama.cpp. The E4B variant stands out for... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-finally-found-an-open-source-local-llm-that-actually-competes-with-cloud-ai-2d3s7fw6c twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I finally found an open-source local LLM that actually competes with cloud AI | daily.dev og:description: A hands-on experience report running Google DeepMind's Gemma 4 open-weight model family locally using LM Studio and llama.cpp. The E4B variant stands out for... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-finally-found-an-open-source-local-llm-that-actually-competes-with-cloud-ai-2d3s7fw6c og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/2D3s7fw6C.png og:image:alt: I finally found an open-source local LLM that actually competes with cloud AI og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I finally found an open-source local LLM that actually competes with cloud AI **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 5 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A hands-on experience report running Google DeepMind's Gemma 4 open-weight model family locally using LM Studio and llama.cpp. The E4B variant stands out for its built-in audio (ASR) support and multimodal capabilities, which larger models in the family lack. The author finds image analysis competitive with cloud AI, appreciates the Apache 2.0 license, and concludes that open-source local models are closing the gap with cloud AI faster than expected. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I tested my local LLM across 4 different tools, and only one actually unleashed its potential](https://daily.dev/posts/i-tested-my-local-llm-across-4-different-tools-and-only-one-actually-unleashed-its-potential-9tq2fztgl) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Running local models is good now](https://daily.dev/posts/running-local-models-is-good-now-q20vqhe78) · Lobsters · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Google’s Gemma 4 shines on local systems – both big and small](https://daily.dev/posts/google-s-gemma-4-shines-on-local-systems-both-big-and-small-qpert58dk) · InfoWorld · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#gemma](https://daily.dev/tags/gemma), [#llama-cpp](https://daily.dev/tags/llama-cpp), [#lm-studio](https://daily.dev/tags/lm-studio), [#local-ai](https://daily.dev/tags/local-ai), [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-finally-found-an-open-source-local-llm-that-actually-competes-with-cloud-ai-2d3s7fw6c) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I finally found an open-source local LLM that actually competes with cloud AI","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-finally-found-an-open-source-local-llm-that-actually-competes-with-cloud-ai-2d3s7fw6c","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-finally-found-an-open-source-local-llm-that-actually-competes-with-cloud-ai-2d3s7fw6c"},"datePublished":"2026-05-12T11:31:24.103Z","dateModified":"2026-06-18T02:16:04.932Z","description":"A hands-on experience report running Google DeepMind's Gemma 4 open-weight model family locally using LM Studio and llama.cpp. The E4B variant stands out for...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c22e1c7f7f663a475b583e56b7c832a2?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c22e1c7f7f663a475b583e56b7c832a2?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-finally-found-an-open-source-local-llm-that-actually-competes-with-cloud-ai-2d3s7fw6c","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"gemma,llama-cpp,lm-studio,local-ai,open-source","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"I finally found an open-source local LLM that actually competes with cloud AI"}]} ```