Best AI tools for Windows in 2026

OpenAI's Windows app combines everyday chat with ChatGPT Work, which can pull context from email, screenshots, files and whatever is on your screen. Work is aimed at producing documents, presentations, spreadsheets and reports while you stay in control of the result.

Developers also get Codex, a coding agent for planning, writing, reviewing and shipping code. Version 26.1029.7803.0 was updated on November 4, 2026, and the app is free. The download is 1003.5 MB under a proprietary licence, so plan for disk space.

Ollama has one stated purpose: getting large language models running on your own computer. That narrow focus suits people who want local inference without a cloud account in the way.

Version 0.40.14 was updated on November 3, 2026. It is free and released under the MIT licence. At 1598.4 MB it is the heaviest package in this list, which is worth knowing before you install it on a small drive.

LM Studio is a desktop app for experimenting with local, open-source language models. You can download any ggml-compatible model from Hugging Face and adjust its settings through a configuration and inference interface.

The app uses your GPU when it can, which matters for response speed on capable hardware. Version 0.4.27+2 arrived on October 29, 2026, at 596.4 MB. It is free, with a Freeware licence.

Claude is Anthropic's desktop app, described as a focused partner for deep work. Version 2.42304.2 was updated on October 19, 2026, and it is free to download.

At 250.7 MB it is one of the lighter assistant apps here, well under ChatGPT's 1003.5 MB. The developer is listed as Anthropic, PBC, and the licence is proprietary. Few specific features are described, so check what it can do after installing.

Jan runs language models such as Mistral or Llama2 locally and offline. It can also connect to remote AI APIs, including OpenAI's GPT-4 or Groq, so one app covers both local and hosted models.

Version 0.8.8 was updated on October 28, 2026. The download is 545.2 MB, it is free, and the licence is AGPL-3.0. Connecting to remote services requires your own access to those APIs.

Microsoft Copilot is described as an AI companion for work and daily life. It helps you find information, create content, learn new skills and get more done.

The Windows build is version 156.0.4314.58, updated on October 30, 2026. It is free, takes up 269.6 MB, and is published by Microsoft Corporation under a proprietary licence. The description is broad, so it suits general tasks more than a specific workflow.

Upscayl is the one tool in this list built purely for images. It uses AI to enhance and upscale pictures, which makes it a different kind of app from the chat assistants around it.

Version 2.15.0 is free, 248.8 MB, and licensed under AGPL-3.0. Its last update was on December 25, 2024, the oldest date among the twelve, so it may lag behind more actively maintained tools.

ComfyUI Desktop packages the ComfyUI diffusion model interface, which works through a graph of nodes. It bundles a stable ComfyUI release, the frontend, ComfyUI-Manager and uv.

On startup it installs the Python dependencies through uv and launches the server. The app then updates itself with stable releases of those components. Version 1.1.8 came out on October 22, 2026, at 172.4 MB, under GPL-3.0.

GPT4All is a GUI application for loading and chatting with generative AI models. The description is short, and it keeps to that single job.

Version 3.10.0 is from Nomic, free, 710 MB, and MIT licensed. Its last update was on February 25, 2025, much older than most entries here, which is worth weighing against newer local runners.

Pinokio is a browser designed to install, run and programmatically control applications automatically. In practice it works as a launcher for other AI tools rather than as a chat assistant.

Version 8.3.1 was updated on November 2, 2026. At 140 MB it is the smallest download in this list, it is free, and it uses the MIT licence. It is made by cocktailpeanut.

Cursor is an AI code editor built on VSCode, so the layout should feel familiar to anyone who has used that editor. The developer is Anysphere.

Version 3.27.12 was updated on October 23, 2026. It is free to download, weighs 219 MB, and carries a proprietary licence. It is the pick here for programmers who want AI support inside their editor.

Chatbox is a desktop client for GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 through the OpenAI API. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, which helps if you switch between systems.

Version 1.24.0 was updated on November 4, 2026. It is free, 229.9 MB, and listed by developer Benn Huang under a proprietary licence. Its description is built around OpenAI models.