Frequently asked questions
Honest answers about what Evano Studio is, what it costs (nothing), and where the project stands today.
Is Evano Studio really free?
Yes. There are no paid APIs, no cloud subscription, and no usage metering. You provide your own computer and free, local, open tools (Ollama and at least one local model). Optional image generation uses your own ComfyUI install.
Does my data go to the cloud?
No, not by default. Models, documents, embeddings, chats, and logs stay on your machine. Nothing is uploaded unless you explicitly choose to.
Do I need to use the terminal?
No. Evano Studio is a desktop control center, not a developer tool. Installing Ollama is a normal app install, and the app guides you from there. It never runs commands silently on your behalf.
Which models can I use?
Any model you run through Ollama. We recommend Gemma 4 when it is available on your system, and also support Qwen, Llama, Mistral, and DeepSeek distill models.
What hardware do I need?
Local AI runs on your computer, so results and speed depend on your machine. More RAM and a better GPU/CPU let you run larger, faster models. Smaller models run on more modest hardware.
Do I need ComfyUI?
Only if you want local image generation. You install and run ComfyUI yourself and point Evano Studio at its local address. Everything else works without it.
Is it production-ready?
Not yet — Evano Studio is in early alpha and under active development. Alpha installers for macOS and Windows are available, but they're unsigned and rough edges are expected.
Is it open source?
Yes. Evano Studio is licensed under the GNU AGPL-3.0: you can use, study, modify, and share it freely. If you run a modified version as a service for others, you must share your changes under the same license — that keeps the project free for everyone.