Are Free LLMs Good Enough for Daily Use?

I've been experimenting with open-source LLMs on my laptop for over five months, and I finally carved out time to test their performance, particularly for privacy-focused note-taking and storage solution.

Trade-Offs on Privacy vs. Functionality

As a regular Notion user (which offers excellent note-taking and database capabilities), I love its organizational features and it's built-in Ai assistant but I'm wary of storing sensitive data on cloud servers I don't control.

I recently began exploring alternatives and discovered AppFlowy, which offers much of the same functionality as Notion but allows for localized data storage (on your laptop or jump drive) while also enabling direct connection with your local AI model.

So far, it's okay but nowhere close to Notion's functionality.

Performance Testing

I successfully connected AppFlowy with my computer's local LLMs and finally had time to test their effectiveness, starting with writing style evaluation, testing 10 models available in Ollama's library of free open-source models.

The results? - Not great.

Open-source models are improving but don't yet match the polish of Notion's AI or commercial giants.

Localized LLMs tested offer privacy and redundancy—crucial if internet access fails or data security is paramount. But they still lack the performance and compact footprint needed for practical everyday use

Future Outlook

As open-source models evolve, they'll rival cloud-based solutions, giving you a personal AI database with unmatched control.

Privacy, redundancy, and cost savings give it a clear advantage.

Consider setting yourself up now so you're ready in the next 1-2 years to have your own personal AI, made for you —by you, for your benefit.

Running Your Own Local LLM

Technical Requirements

It's important to note that running a local model requires some basic technical skills. You'll need to understand how to use the Windows terminal and some Linux functions. While I'm not an expert in these areas, I've found that getting guidance directly from Claude is by far the best approach.

In my experience, trying to get technical setup help from ChatGPT 4.0 and Gemini Flash 2.5 has sometimes led to failures and hallucinations that have taken me in circles. Claude seems to provide more accurate and straightforward technical instructions for these kinds of tasks.

Hardware Limitations

Despite running on a high-end gaming laptop, I've found that models larger than 4GB operate too slowly for practical use, while the smaller models (around 2GB) run faster but deliver poor quality outputs.

Test Results