Ollama is built on llama.cpp but adds model management and an API layer. Compare the user-friendly wrapper vs the raw inference engine.
Ease of Use
🏆 OllamaOllama abstracts away all complexity — one command to download and run any model. llama.cpp requires manual model downloads and CLI arguments.
Performance Control
🏆 llama.cppllama.cpp gives direct access to all inference parameters, quantization options, and memory mapping controls.
Flexibility
🏆 llama.cppllama.cpp supports more quantization formats, custom builds, and can be embedded directly into C/C++ applications.
Model Management
🏆 OllamaOllama handles model downloads, storage, and versioning automatically. With llama.cpp you manage GGUF files manually.
Server/API
🏆 OllamaOllama includes a built-in OpenAI-compatible server. llama.cpp has a server mode but requires manual setup.
🎯 Which Should You Choose?
Use Ollama for day-to-day local AI — it's llama.cpp made easy with model management and a clean API. Use llama.cpp directly when you need maximum control over inference, custom builds, or embedding into C/C++ applications. Ollama is llama.cpp for humans; llama.cpp is for tinkerers.