Conduit Download

Resources

Guides, comparisons, and what changed

Everything we publish beyond the documentation — practical guides, honest comparisons, and notes on each release. Setting up a provider? See the provider guides. Weighing Conduit against another client? See all comparisons.

Guides

Step-by-step guides for real jobs — putting an MCP server in front of a customer, connecting tools, running Conduit well.

  • API pricing vs a monthly subscription — How many messages a day before pay-per-token beats a $20 subscription? A calculator, plus why conversation length moves the answer more than volume does.
  • How to demo an MCP server to a customer — Hosting an MCP server is not a customer demo. Compare a hosted chat, Claude Desktop with an extension, and your own client — and what you can ship today.

Provider guides

How to use each model provider in Conduit with your own key — setup, what it costs, which features work with it, and its limits.

  • Use the DeepSeek API in a desktop app — Use the DeepSeek API in a free, open-source desktop app. Setup, peak and off-peak prices, thinking mode, tools, where your data goes, and current limits.
  • Use OpenRouter in a desktop app — Use OpenRouter in a free, open-source desktop app. Setup in four steps, what it costs, free-model limits, web search, and what doesn't work yet.

Comparisons

How Conduit differs from the alternatives, row by row — written so that every claim is checkable and the competitor wins the rows it actually wins.

  • Conduit vs Msty — A Msty alternative? Conduit vs Msty Studio, checked 3 Oct 2026 — licence, pricing, local models, MCP, and the rows Msty wins. Free and open source.
  • Conduit vs Chatbox — A Chatbox alternative? Conduit vs Chatbox, checked 3 Oct 2026 — licence, pricing, MCP, local models, mobile, and the rows Chatbox wins. Free and open source.
  • Conduit vs TypingMind — A TypingMind alternative? Conduit vs TypingMind, checked 24 Sept 2026: a free, open-source desktop app vs a paid-licence web app, and the rows TypingMind wins.
  • Conduit vs Open WebUI — An Open WebUI alternative built as a native desktop app, not a bundled server. Checked 24 Sept 2026, including the rows Open WebUI wins. Free and open source.
  • Conduit vs LM Studio — Conduit vs LM Studio, checked 24 Sept 2026: LM Studio runs local models; Conduit is a free, open-source app for them and cloud models. Why many run both.
  • Conduit vs Ollama's own app — Ollama ships its own chat app now. What it does, what a separate client adds, and why most people end up running both rather than choosing.
  • Best MCP clients, compared — Which MCP client should you install? A checkable comparison of the desktop apps that speak MCP — Conduit, Claude Desktop, Cherry Studio, Jan and LM Studio.
  • Conduit vs Claude Desktop — A checkable comparison of Conduit and Claude Desktop — models, storage, MCP setup, platforms, licence and code signing, by the people who make one of them.

Release notes

What shipped in each release, summarised in plain language — including the limits, so the notes can be quoted without rounding a capability up.

  • What changed in Conduit — What changed in Conduit, release by release: a side rail and inspector, live-data pages, documents in chat, image generation — with the limits stated.