Runtime comparison
LM Studio vs SGLang
LM Studio is a proprietary-licensed runtime for Linux · macOS · Windows running on CUDA · Metal · CPU · Vulkan · ROCm; SGLang is Apache-2.0-licensed for Linux on CUDA · ROCm. LM Studio rates easier to set up (5/5 vs 2/5 in our sourced ratings). Pick LM Studio for people who want a desktop app and no terminal; pick SGLang for serving many requests at once.
| Spec | LM Studio | SGLang |
|---|---|---|
| License | proprietary | Apache-2.0 |
| Operating systems | Linux · macOS · Windows | Linux |
| GPU backends | CUDA · Metal · CPU · Vulkan · ROCm | CUDA · ROCm |
| Install | binary | pip / source |
| Ease of use | 5/5 | 2/5 |
| Quant formats | gguf, mlx | awq, gptq |
| Engine | llama.cpp|mlx | sglang |
| GitHub stars | — | 30,090 |
| Latest version | — | v0.5.14 |
| Graphical app (GUI) | Yes | No |
| Server mode | Yes | Yes |
| OpenAI-compatible API | Yes | Yes |
| CPU offload | Yes | No |
| Multi-GPU | Yes | Yes |
| Speculative decoding | No | Yes |
| LoRA support | Yes | Yes |
| KV-cache quantization | Yes | Yes |
Which should you use?
LM Studio
Best for people who want a desktop app and no terminal. Ships a graphical app, runs on CUDA · Metal · CPU · Vulkan · ROCm.
Full LM Studio guide →SGLang
Best for serving many requests at once. Command line and server, runs on CUDA · ROCm.
Full SGLang guide →Neither runtime changes whether a model fits — that is your memory and quantization. Check your hardware first, then pick the runtime.
Sources: LM Studio lmstudio.ai (as of 2026-07-08); SGLang github.com/sgl-project/sglang (as of 2026-07-08).