21 ChatGPT Alternatives: A Look at Free, Self-Hosted, Open-Source AI Chatbots

ChatGPT has taken the internet by storm, leading to numerous open-source implementations of the OpenAI engine. This allows users to host the technology themselves, maintaining their privacy and control over their data.

What is an AI ChatBot?

An AI ChatBot is a powerfully engineered computer program that expertly utilizes artificial intelligence to simulate human conversation.

With its ability to comprehend and respond to both written and spoken language, it serves as an indispensable tool in customer service, adeptly answering questions, delivering information, and executing simple tasks.

Benefits of AI ChatBots

1. 24/7 availability: AI ChatBots can provide round-the-clock support, answering customer queries at any time.
2. Cost-effective: They reduce the need for a large customer service team, helping to lower costs.
3. Instant responses: AI ChatBots can respond to customer queries instantly, improving customer satisfaction.
4. Scalability: They can handle a large number of queries simultaneously, allowing businesses to scale their customer service efforts easily.

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Use-cases for AI ChatBots

1. Customer support: They can provide instant answers to frequently asked questions, resolve complaints, or guide users through processes.
2. Sales and marketing: AI ChatBots can recommend products, share promotional offers, or help customers through the buying process.
3. Data collection: They can gather customer feedback, helping businesses understand their customers better and improve their products or services.

New Players

While major companies like Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot have released their own competitive products, many are unaware that they can operate their own system, running various AI models in the backend.

In this post, we provide the best free solution that allows you to run your own AI Chatbot on a server or your local machine.

1. Tabby

Tabby is a self-hosted AI coding assistant, serving as a viable open-source and on-premises alternative to GitHub Copilot. It presents several appealing features that make it a competitive choice.

Firstly, it is self-contained, eliminating the need for a Database Management System (DBMS) or any cloud service, which significantly streamlines its installation and operation. Secondly, it comes with an OpenAPI interface, simplifying the integration process with existing infrastructure, such as a Cloud Integrated Development Environment (IDE). This flexibility makes it adaptable to various workflows and systems. Thirdly, it supports consumer-grade Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), making it accessible for a broad range of users.

Lastly, the ease of installation on various platforms, including local machines or servers like DigitalOcean, enhances its user-friendliness. This combination of features positions Tabby as a practical and efficient tool for those seeking a self-hosted AI coding assistant.

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2. Self-Hosted AI

The Self-Hosted AI project presents a compatible API interface with openai, enabling easy adaptation of various open-source projects. The developer encourages others to develop similarly compatible API interfaces, promoting the growth of related applications.

Project packages can be downloaded from the release, including an 8MB online installation program. The project is based on ChatGLM and is available offline. The built-in model within the package is a trimmed version of the open-source project, ChatGLM, licensed under Apache-2.0. After unzipping, users can run the model file directly.

The project also provides a feature for users to host the model on their own. They can go to Huggingface, copy the space, switch the CPU to the second 8-core for a fast experience, and then the API address will be their custom URL.

The project supports a built-in command line interactive program, which was modified to support Unicode input on windows. The built-in model is from Chinese-LLaMA-Alpaca. If users already have the model, they can directly replace the existing file.

Moreover, this project supports AI Art, using Stable Diffusion, and comes with integrated apps, broadening its applicability and functionality.

3. LlamaGPT

LlamaGPT is a self-hosted, fully offline chatbot, similar to ChatGPT, that is powered by Llama 2. It emphasizes privacy with all data remaining on the user's device, ensuring no data transfer occurs. Recently, it has added support for Code Llama models and Nvidia GPUs.

LlamaGPT currently provides support for several models, with plans to facilitate custom models in the future. The supported models include various versions of the Nous Hermes Llama 2 Chat and Code Llama Chat, each with specific memory requirements and download sizes.

Installation of LlamaGPT is made user-friendly with varying instructions based on the user's device. For umbrelOS home server users, the installation is as simple as a one-click install from the Umbrel App Store. For users with an M1/M2 Mac, Docker and Xcode need to be pre-installed. LlamaGPT can also be installed on other devices using Docker.

4. Refact (Coding AI Assistant)

Refact WebUI is a resourceful repository for those interested in fine-tuning and self-hosting code models. Users can utilize these models inside Refact plugins for code completion and chat functionality. The repo also offers the ability to download and upload Lloras, host several small models on a single GPU, and even connect GPT-models for chat using OpenAI and Anthropic keys.

Running Refact Self-Hosted is made simpler through the use of a pre-built Docker image. To use it, a user needs to install Docker with NVidia GPU support - Windows users will need to install WSL 2 first.

The Docker container can be run with a specific command provided within the repo. A notable feature here is the 'perm-storage' volume that is mounted inside the container. This stores all configuration files, downloaded weights, and logs which will be retained even upon upgrading or deleting the Docker.

At the end of the process, users can access the server Web GUI by visiting a specific URL. This makes the platform user-friendly and easy to navigate. Overall, Refact WebUI is a comprehensive tool for individuals interested in exploring code modelling.