Using my local AI with In free edition of IntelliJ IDEA or PyCharm
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It's not clear whether using my own local AI like Ollama or LM Studio is free in the free edition of IntelliJ IDEA or PyCharm, I mean I am using my hardware and my local models, this is logically expected to be free in the free edition of these apps, right?
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You are correct that when running models locally, the actual inference is performed on your own hardware and does not incur external API costs.
However, JetBrains AI Assistant itself is a separate licensed product and not part of the free Community Edition functionality. Even when local models are used, the plugin still provides the surrounding integration layer, UI, workflows, and related platform functionality.
The latest versions of JetBrains AI Assistant can work with a locally configured LLM provider without an active JetBrains AI subscription. In this setup:
• AI Chat with local models should work normally
• Agent authentication via external providers (such as ChatGPT OAuth for Codex or Anthropic authentication for Claude) is also supported
At the same time, some in-editor AI features that rely specifically on the JetBrains AI platform will not be available without a JetBrains AI license.
Please also note that commercially licensed JetBrains IDEs include access to the AI Free tier, which can be used together with local models. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.