Dust vs Jan
Side-by-side comparison to help you choose the best tool.
Dust
paidDust is an AI workspace platform that lets teams build custom internal AI assistants connected to their company data sources such as Notion, Slack, GitHub, and Google Drive. It enables non-technical users to deploy context-aware AI agents that answer questions using live organisational knowledge. Dust focuses on enterprise-grade data privacy and access controls for secure internal deployments.
Jan
freeJan is an open-source desktop application for running AI models locally - a privacy-first alternative to ChatGPT that runs entirely offline. Like LM Studio, it provides a chat interface for local models, but also supports connecting to remote model APIs. Jan is fully open-source with an extension platform, making it the most customisable local AI desktop app.
| Feature | Dust | Jan |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | paid | free |
| Category | - | - |
| Rating | 4.4 | 4.3 |
| Best For | Enterprise teams that need secure, context-aware AI assistants grounded in internal company knowledge. | Privacy-first users and developers wanting a fully open-source, offline-capable AI chat app with extensibility and model flexibility |
| Views | 4 | 7 |
Pros
- Deep integration with company data sources
- Strong privacy and access controls
- No-code assistant builder for non-technical teams
Cons
- Paid-only with no free tier
- Setup complexity for larger knowledge bases
Pros
- Completely open-source with full customisation
- Works both offline and with remote APIs
- Extension system enables powerful customisation
Cons
- Less polished UI than LM Studio
- Smaller community
- Custom AI assistant builder
- Connects to Notion, Slack, GitHub, Google Drive
- Role-based access controls
- Multi-agent workflows
- Enterprise SSO support
- Local AI chat (fully offline)
- Remote API connection support
- Open-source & extensible
- Model hub integration
- Extension ecosystem