Smartloop
Smartloop Inc. is a San Francisco-based open-source AI agent orchestration platform that runs quantized Small Language Models locally on user hardware, targeting developers and privacy-conscious users via a freemium, product-led model with an optional paid subscription.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Smartloop does
Smartloop Inc. is a California-incorporated software company operating an open-source AI agent orchestration platform that runs entirely on user hardware. Its core product, the AI Agent Harness, breaks user requests into sub-tasks and dynamically routes them across quantized Small Language Models — primarily Gemma3-4B for general reasoning and Qwen2-VL-2B for vision — selecting the smallest sufficient model based on workload, capability, and available GPU memory. The platform is exposed through multiple surfaces: Smartloop Studio (a desktop GUI for macOS Apple Silicon, Windows, and Linux), a Terminal User Interface, and an OpenAI-compatible local API at 127.0.0.1:38540/v1, plus Model Context Protocol (MCP) server integration for connecting external tools such as Linear and Yahoo Finance.
The company's go-to-market is product-led and developer-centric. Distribution runs through direct download, one-line curl/PowerShell installers, and a public GitHub repository (smartloop-ai), targeting individual developers and privacy-conscious users who want to keep documents and AI workloads on-device. The revenue model is freemium: the core product is free and open-source, with an optional paid subscription plan processed via Stripe whose pricing is not publicly disclosed; the company describes paid revenue as funding model maintenance and framework improvement. There are no disclosed funding rounds, no named enterprise customers, and headcount is reported at 1–10, consistent with a bootstrapped posture.
The firmographic record indicates Smartloop was founded in 2017, while the company's current product positioning — built around Small Language Models, MCP, and on-device agent orchestration — is materially different from a 2017-era chatbot orientation, implying a substantive product pivot. The company is affiliated with NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Google for Startups accelerators and operates from San Francisco, though no specific street address is disclosed.
Smartloop firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Smartloop
- Legal name
- Smartloop Inc.
- Website
- https://smartloop.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Smartloop Inc. is a San Francisco-based open-source AI agent orchestration platform that runs quantized Small Language Models locally on user hardware, targeting developers and privacy-conscious users via a freemium, product-led model with an optional paid subscription.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Smartloop is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Smartloop business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Free Open Source Tier: Core product is free and open-source for users to download and run locally. This drives adoption and community growth.
- Paid Subscription Plan: Paid plan available for users who want to support model maintenance and framework improvement. Payment processing handled via Stripe.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free Open Source |
| Subscription | Monthly | Paid Plan |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels3 records
Smartloop product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Smartloop provides a local AI agent orchestration platform that runs quantized Small Language Models (SLMs) entirely on user hardware. Its product suite includes Smartloop Studio (a cross-platform desktop GUI), an OpenAI-compatible local API, and a Terminal User Interface (TUI), enabling developers and privacy-conscious users to automate tasks, define custom skills, and connect external tools via the Model Context Protocol without transmitting data to the cloud.
Product overview
Smartloop is a privacy-first AI agent orchestration platform that runs entirely on local hardware. The core product combines Smartloop Studio (desktop GUI application), the AI Agent Harness (orchestration engine), Terminal User Interface (CLI), and an OpenAI-compatible API. Users manage projects containing documents and custom skills that define automation workflows. The platform uses Small Language Models (SLMs) like Gemma3-4B and Qwen2-VL-2B, automatically selecting models based on task capabilities. MCP server integration extends functionality through external tools like Linear and Yahoo Finance. The platform is open-source with a free tier and optional paid plan for model maintenance.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Smartloop Studio Cross-platform desktop application for running AI agents locally on the user's machine. Provides a GUI for managing projects, documents, skills, and model orchestration, and installs on macOS (Apple Silicon), Windows, and Linux.
- Terminal User Interface (TUI) Command-line interface for Smartloop, installable as a standalone or as part of Studio. Enables terminal-based chat sessions, project management, skill configuration, and MCP server management through 'slp' commands on macOS, Linux, and Windows.
- Smartloop API OpenAI-compatible chat completions API running locally on the user's device at http://127.0.0.1:38540/v1, allowing developers to build custom tools, integrations, and applications on top of Smartloop's on-device AI agent capabilities.
- AI Agent Harness Local AI orchestration framework installed directly onto user hardware that extracts information and performs tasks across personal documents. Uses multiple Small Language Models (SLMs) to break down requests and select specialized models based on capability and available GPU memory, producing results entirely on-device without cloud dependency.
Companies that use Smartloop
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Smartloop technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability7 records
Feature11 records
Smartloop partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) EcosystemcoreSmartloop supports the open Model Context Protocol standard, allowing connection to any MCP-compliant servers including fetch, file-read, file-write, bash, Linear, Yahoo Finance, and more. Authentication can be OAuth-based for secure integrations.
- StripecoreStripe handles all billing and payment processing for the paid plan. Smartloop does not collect or store credit card information - all payment data is handled by Stripe in accordance with their privacy policy.
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Smartloop competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Hugging Face: Broader AI platform with Transformers and inference tooling. Provides the underlying open-model ecosystem (e.g., Gemma, Qwen) that Smartloop's local SLM orchestration depends on.
- Continue: AI coding assistant that supports local models through OpenAI-compatible endpoints. Broader developer focus but emphasizes the same local-model value proposition Smartloop enables via its local API.
Direct peers
- Msty: Local AI desktop client with multi-model switching, RAG, and privacy-first positioning aimed at power users. Overlaps with Smartloop Studio's user value proposition and tool set.
- Ollama: Open-source local LLM runtime that serves quantized models on Apple Silicon and CUDA. Closely matches Smartloop's local-SLM thesis, dev-first distribution, and OpenAI-compatible local server surface.
- AnythingLLM: Desktop AI workspace with document ingestion, multi-model support, and agent/skills capabilities. Parallels Smartloop Studio's document vectorization, custom skills framework, and MCP-style extensibility.
- Jan AI: Local-first AI chat client offering a desktop app, multi-model support, and developer-grade configuration. Targets the same developer and privacy-conscious personas that Smartloop courts.
- Cherry Studio: Multi-model desktop AI client with agent features and local-first positioning. Targets the same power-user and developer audience with comparable workflows.
- Open WebUI: Self-hosted local AI interface commonly deployed alongside Ollama. Comparable local-agent and model-switching workflows that compete with Smartloop Studio's GUI plus OpenAI-compatible API.
- LM Studio: Desktop GUI for downloading, running, and testing local LLMs with multi-model support and an OpenAI-compatible local inference server. Mirrors Smartloop Studio's desktop-first, multi-model architecture.
- GPT4All: Nomic's desktop client running quantized open models on consumer hardware. Direct overlap with Smartloop's local-SLM, privacy-first positioning and developer-targeted onboarding.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Smartloop social profiles
Digital presenceSmartloop financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Smartloop leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Smartloop funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Smartloop M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Smartloop
What does Smartloop do?
Smartloop provides a local AI agent orchestration platform that runs quantized Small Language Models (SLMs) entirely on user hardware. Its product suite includes Smartloop Studio (a cross-platform desktop GUI), an OpenAI-compatible local API, and a Terminal User Interface (TUI), enabling developers and privacy-conscious users to automate tasks, define custom skills, and connect external tools via the Model Context Protocol without transmitting data to the cloud.
Is Smartloop a public or private company?
Smartloop is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Smartloop founded?
Smartloop was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Smartloop based?
Smartloop is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Smartloop make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Free Open Source Tier is the primary driver. The others are paid Subscription Plan.
Who are Smartloop's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Hugging Face and Continue. Direct peers are Msty, Ollama, AnythingLLM, Jan AI, Cherry Studio, Open WebUI, LM Studio and GPT4All.
Does Smartloop have an API?
Yes. OpenAI-compatible chat completions API running locally on the user's device. Exposed at http://127.0.0.1:38540/v1 with interactive documentation at http://127.0.0.1:38540/docs. Supports standard OpenAI client/SDK integration with no API key required. Model 'slp-orchestra-mini' is used for orchestration. Available to all users via local installation. Developer documentation is at 127.0.0.1:38540/docs.