Free AI assistants for Windows, compared
Five options people actually use on Windows, judged on what they cost once you hit the limits, whether they work without internet, and whether they can see what is on your screen. We make one of these, and we have tried to be straight about where it loses.
Last updated: September 2026
The short version
| Tool | Cost | Offline | Sees screen | Speaks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows Copilot | Free tier, paid for Pro | No | Partly | Yes |
| ChatGPT desktop | Free tier, $20/mo Plus | No | Yes, opt-in | Yes |
| Ollama | Free, no limits | Yes | No | No |
| LM Studio | Free | Yes | No | No |
| Clicky | Free, open source | Yes | Yes | Yes |
What each one is actually for
Windows Copilot
Built into Windows 11 and the least effort to start. Everything goes to Microsoft's servers, and the free tier is rate-limited.
ChatGPT desktop
The strongest answers of anything here. Cloud-only, and the free tier caps how much you can use the good models.
Ollama
The engine rather than the assistant. Completely free and private, but on its own it is a terminal prompt with no eyes or voice.
LM Studio
A friendly desktop UI for local models. Great for chatting with a model, not built to watch what you are doing.
Clicky
Screen-aware and speaks its answers. Runs on Ollama for free, or on your own Claude / OpenAI / Gemini key if you want stronger answers.
"Free" is doing a lot of work in these listings
Three different things get called free, and they are not the same:
- Free tier. Copilot and ChatGPT — free until you hit a cap, then you wait or pay. Fine for occasional use, frustrating for daily use.
- Free, bring your own key. The app costs nothing, but you pay the AI provider per use. Cheap for light use; it adds up.
- Actually free. Local models via Ollama or LM Studio. No cap, no bill, no account — you pay in disk space and speed.
Which should you pick
- You want the best answers and don't mind paying: ChatGPT Plus or Claude. Nothing local competes on raw quality.
- You want zero setup: Windows Copilot. It is already installed.
- You want privacy above all: Ollama or LM Studio, with the network off.
- You want something that sees your screen and talks back, for free: that combination is the gap Clicky was built for.
Where Clicky loses
Being straight about it, since you can check all of this yourself: Clicky is Windows-only, so there is no Mac or Linux build. On local models the answers are weaker than ChatGPT or Claude, because a 3B model on your laptop is not competing with a datacentre. First launch needs a few GB of model downloads. And it is an independent open-source project, not a company with a support desk.
What it does that the others do not is combine screen awareness, spoken answers, and a genuinely free offline mode in one Windows app.
Related reading
- How to run AI offline on Windows — what works without internet and what does not.
- Ollama on Windows setup guide — install it, pick a model, fix the common errors.
Try it yourself — Clicky is free
A free AI assistant for Windows that reads your screen and answers out loud. No account, no API key, and it runs offline with Ollama.
↓ Download for Windows — freeWindows 10 / 11 · No sign-up