Local LLM Deployment Guide: Running open-source models with Ollama

Ollama makes running open-source LLMs locally incredibly simple. No GPU needed for small models.

Quick Start

brew install ollama          # macOS
curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh  # Linux
ollama run llama3.2:3b       # Run model

Recommended Models

Model Params Min RAM Best For
Llama 3.2 3B 3B 4GB CPU-friendly, simple Q&A
Mistral 7B 7B 8GB General conversation
Qwen 2.5 7B 7B 8GB Chinese language tasks
Llama 3.2 11B 11B 16GB Complex reasoning

16IDC Takeaway

Ollama makes local LLM deployment easier than ever. For privacy-conscious websites and SaaS products, self-hosted LLMs are worth considering — data stays on your server, no API fees, fully controllable.