Ollama

Best reason to use Ollama

Use Ollama when your real goal is:

• a local API,
• agent workflows,
• or plugging Gemma 4 into another app that expects an endpoint.

Not always the best first-time route

For Gemma 4 specifically, Ollama is often not the easiest way to validate hardware fit. If your priority is “get it running today,” start with LM Studio or llama.cpp first.

Use Ollama after

• you know which model size fits,
• you know the runtime works on your machine,
• and you actually need a local service layer

Otherwise you risk debugging API plumbing before you even know the model fits in memory.