“Doesn’t store your data” means three different things: the service doesn’t keep your chat history, the service doesn’t log your prompts, and the model provider behind it doesn’t retain them.
Very few tools cover all three. Here is how the eight best options compare:
| Tool | Account required | Where chat history lives | Logs prompt content | What the model provider can keep | Frontier models (GPT, Claude, Gemini) | Best for |
| NanoGPT | No | Your browser (opt-in encrypted sync) | No, by default | Nothing on ZDR-only routing (fails closed if no ZDR route); encrypted before it leaves your browser in Private Mode | Yes | Private access to every major model |
| Proton Lumo | No (basic use) | Proton servers, zero-access encrypted | No | Processed on Proton-controlled servers, then erased | No | Encrypted saved chats, EU/Swiss jurisdiction |
| Duck.ai | No | Your device | No, with documented exceptions | Up to 30 days under provider agreements | No newest flagships; a few lightweight models only | Free, instant, anonymous questions |
| Venice | No | Your browser | No | Nothing in Private mode; provider may store content in Anonymous mode | Only in Anonymous mode | Open and uncensored models |
| Brave Leo | No | Your browser | No | Not retained after the response, per Brave | Limited selection | Brave browser users |
| Maple AI | Yes | Encrypted, synced | No | Runs in an attested enclave | No | Verifiable end-to-end encryption |
| Ollama + Open WebUI | No | Your machine | No | Nothing, no provider involved | No | Total isolation, technical users |
| Jan / LM Studio | No | Your machine | No | Nothing, no provider involved | No | Local AI without the command line |
We scored each tool on five questions, in this order of weight:
Fully local tools win the first three questions by design. They are ranked lower here only because most people searching for a “private AI chat” want a hosted app with strong models, not a GPU setup. If nothing may ever leave your device, skip straight to the local options.
Most privacy claims in AI marketing are about training. A service can promise it never trains on your chats and still keep them on its servers for 30 days, or forward them to a model provider that keeps them.
When you read a privacy page, look for three separate answers: what the app stores, what the app logs, and what the model provider retains. The tools below are ranked on all three.
NanoGPT is a pay-as-you-go AI platform that gives one balance access to 1,000+ text, image, video and audio models, including GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek and Qwen. (It is unrelated to Andrej Karpathy’s nanoGPT training repo.)
It ranks first because it is the only hosted option here that combines no account, local chat history and controls over what the downstream model provider can retain, without restricting you to a small set of open-source models.
By default you get a generated user ID instead of an account, and conversations are stored in your browser rather than on NanoGPT’s servers.
According to NanoGPT’s privacy explainer, it does not log or retain prompt and response content as part of normal inference, does not attach your account identity or IP address to provider requests, and keeps API request logging off unless you switch it on.
The part competitors mostly skip is the provider hop. When a request requires Zero Data Retention, NanoGPT routes it only to providers that state ZDR, and rejects the request before sending it if no such route exists.
PII redaction can swap names, emails, phone numbers, addresses and card numbers for placeholders before the model sees them.
In Private Mode, your browser verifies a Tinfoil hardware enclave and encrypts the request before NanoGPT receives it, so NanoGPT itself never sees the plaintext.
Payment can be private too: card, or crypto including Monero, Bitcoin, Lightning and Nano, starting at $0.10 with no subscription.
Best For: people who want ChatGPT-, Claude- or Gemini-class answers without an account, a stored history, or a provider keeping their prompts.
Lumo is the AI assistant from Proton, the company behind Proton Mail. Proton states that it keeps no chat logs, does not train on conversations, and protects saved history with zero-access encryption, meaning Proton cannot read stored chats.
Prompts are processed on Proton-controlled servers in Europe and then erased. Ghost mode makes a conversation disappear when you close it, and basic use needs no account.
The trade-off is model choice. Lumo runs open-source models such as Mistral Small 3 and OLMo 2 32B rather than frontier models like GPT or Claude, and prompts are processed in readable form on Proton’s servers even though stored history is encrypted.
Best For: people who want saved chat history that even the provider cannot read, under European jurisdiction.
Duck.ai is DuckDuckGo’s free AI chat. It needs no account, keeps chats on your device, and removes your IP address and identifying metadata before forwarding your prompt to the model provider.
DuckDuckGo says the providers it works with have agreed to delete prompts and responses within 30 days, with exceptions for safety and legal obligations.
The biggest limit is the models. Duck.ai offers a short list of smaller, faster models rather than each lab’s newest flagship, so you can’t use the latest and strongest GPT, Claude or Gemini releases through it.
For quick questions that’s fine; for long documents, coding or hard reasoning, the gap is obvious.
The second limit is retention. Duck.ai hides who you are from the model provider, but not what you wrote, and the text can sit on the provider’s servers for up to 30 days.
Best For: quick, free, anonymous questions with zero setup.
Venice stores conversation history in your browser and, in its default Private mode, routes to open-source models with no retention.
It is popular for uncensored open models and image generation, and offers TEE and end-to-end encrypted modes on its Pro plan.
The catch is frontier models. GPT, Claude and similar models run in Venice’s “Anonymous” mode, where Venice hides your identity but the model provider may still store the content under its own policy.
If you want frontier quality, you are back to trusting the provider’s retention terms.
Best For: open-source and uncensored models with local history.
Leo is built into the Brave browser. It needs no account, Brave says it keeps no server-side record of conversations and does not train on them, and history is stored locally.
It is a good default if Brave is already your browser, less so if it isn’t.
Best For: Brave users who want a private assistant for browsing and page summaries.
Maple runs models inside an attested secure enclave and encrypts chats end to end, so the operator cannot read them.
It is one of the few options where privacy is verifiable rather than policy-based. It requires an account and offers a smaller catalog of open models.
Best For: technical users who want cryptographic, verifiable privacy over model variety.
Ollama runs open-source models directly on your computer, and Open WebUI gives it a ChatGPT-style interface.
Nothing leaves your machine, there is no provider and no policy to trust, and it works offline. This is the ceiling for privacy.
Best For: anyone whose data must never touch a third-party server.
Jan and LM Studio are desktop apps that download and run local models with a point-and-click interface.
Jan is open source with no telemetry; LM Studio has a polished model browser. Same privacy as Ollama, less setup.
Best For: local AI without the command line.
| Your priority | Choose |
| Best models without an account or stored history | NanoGPT |
| Encrypted saved chats, EU jurisdiction | Proton Lumo |
| Free, instant, no setup, simple questions only | Duck.ai |
| Uncensored open models | Venice |
| Already using Brave | Brave Leo |
| Verifiable encryption over model variety | Maple AI |
| Nothing may ever leave your device | Ollama, Jan or LM Studio |
The honest summary: local AI is the only option where nothing is stored anywhere, but you give up frontier models.
Among hosted chats, the real question is what happens after your prompt leaves the app.
Most tools answer that with “the provider’s policy applies”. NanoGPT is the one that lets you require zero-retention routes, redact personal data, or encrypt to an enclave before the request leaves your browser, while still giving you GPT, Claude and Gemini.
Local apps like Ollama, Jan and LM Studio store nothing outside your computer. Among hosted chats, NanoGPT, Venice, Brave Leo and Duck.ai keep chat history in your browser instead of on their servers.
NanoGPT additionally lets you require Zero Data Retention routing, so the model provider doesn’t keep your prompts either.
For quick questions, yes. For anything demanding, usually not: Duck.ai offers a small set of lightweight models and not the newest flagship releases.
If you want the latest GPT, Claude or Gemini models without an account, NanoGPT gives you those with local chat history and optional Zero Data Retention routing.
Yes. NanoGPT, Duck.ai, Venice, Brave Leo and Proton Lumo (for basic use) all work without an account. NanoGPT also accepts anonymous payment in Monero, Bitcoin or Nano, so even paid use doesn’t need an email or card.
Not fully through OpenAI’s or Anthropic’s own apps, which require an account and keep chat history on their servers.
Through NanoGPT you can use GPT and Claude models without an account, with history stored locally and no identity attached to the request. The model provider still receives the prompt content on standard routes.
No. A service can promise not to train on your chats and still store them, or pass them to a model provider that retains them for up to 30 days. Check what the app stores, what it logs and what the model provider keeps.
Zero Data Retention means the model provider agrees not to store prompts or outputs after generating a response.
Some platforms, including NanoGPT, can restrict routing to ZDR providers only and reject the request if none is available.
Yes. A local model running on your own hardware never sends data anywhere. The trade-off is lower model quality, hardware requirements, and no access to closed models such as GPT, Claude or Gemini.
Cryptocurrency on a service that doesn’t require an account. NanoGPT accepts Monero, Bitcoin, Lightning, Nano and stablecoins from $0.10, with no account or email needed.
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