AI tools that run in your browser — and never upload your files
There is a quiet split in the AI tool market. Most products send your file to a server and return a result: that architecture is why they have upload boxes, size limits and subscription tiers. A smaller group downloads the model to your device and runs it there, which removes all three.
The list below is the second kind. The test I use is simple: load the page, disconnect from the network, and try the feature. If it still works, the model is genuinely local.
Editing and creative work
Vofy — a full AI creative studio running client-side: generation, retouching, background removal, object erasing, upscaling, and video generation, trimming and compression. Several hundred tools, no account, and the file never leaves the device because there is no server in the loop.
Photopea — the closest thing to a desktop layer editor in a tab. Not AI, but the same local-first property, which makes it a useful benchmark for what a browser can handle.
Why this became possible
WebGPU exposed the GPU to the browser without a plugin, so vision models stopped being a CPU-bound compromise.
Quantization brought model size down by three to four times with little visible loss on editing tasks.
WASM SIMD and threads made the fallback path acceptable on machines without a usable GPU.
How to tell them apart
An upload progress bar means a server is doing the work.
A sign-up wall before the first result usually means per-image server cost to cover.
Working offline is the strongest signal: weights are already on your machine.