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Measured on six things

Private, local AI assistant for Mac that runs offline

Security

HTTPS enforced, SPF/DMARC present, Stripe handles checkout, and no account means no stored credentials. But HSTS, CSP, and frame protection are missing, and there are no SOC 2, ISO, or audit claims — reasonable for an indie app, thin for the 'professional secrecy' pitch.

Screenshots

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Gerty

About this app

Gerty is a private AI assistant for Mac that runs open language models entirely on your Mac's own chip, not in the cloud. It can chat, write, search your documents (including scans), work with Mail, Calendar, and other apps, and even answer aloud from the notch. all without sending a word to the internet. Because everything stays on your machine, it's ideal for confidential or personal data, taking GDPR and professional-secrecy concerns off the table. Unlike model runners like Ollama or LM Studio, Gerty automatically picks the best models for your Mac and sets them up with one click, then integrates with your files, mail, calendar, screen, voice, and memory. It requires an Apple silicon Mac (M1 or later) with macOS 14 or newer. Gerty costs CHF 49 once (one license for 3 Macs), with a free 7-day trial. No account, no subscription, no cloud — just private AI that works offline.

Key features

1Runs open language models entirely on Apple silicon, no cloud or account required
2Auto-selects and sets up the best models for your Mac with one click
3Integrates with Mail, Calendar, files, screen, voice, and memory, with approval prompts

Target customer profile

Drawn from the product itself, not from a survey.

Demographic

Professionals handling sensitive data (doctors, therapists, lawyers)

Pain points

Fear of data breaches and GDPR violations when using cloud AI

Primary needs

Local, offline AI that keeps confidential information on-device

Demographic

Privacy-conscious Mac users

Pain points

Discomfort with big tech storing conversations and files

Primary needs

A ChatGPT alternative that runs entirely on their Mac without an account

Demographic

Budget-minded individuals and small teams

Pain points

High monthly subscriptions for AI assistants add up

Primary needs

One-time purchase AI that works offline and integrates with daily apps

Scout Review

Written by AI from measured evidence, scored out of 100.

Gerty is a well-positioned local AI assistant for Mac with a sharp privacy pitch, a genuinely fast site, and a clear economic wedge against cloud subscriptions. The marketing is confident and the docs are deeper than most indie apps. The weaknesses are the unverified app UI, a security posture that doesn't match the professional-secrecy audience, and the absence of independent audits. For privacy-conscious Mac users tired of subscriptions, it's a compelling offer; for lawyers and doctors, the trust gap is real.

Measure by measure

Usability

Free 7-day trial with no sign-up, 21 pages of docs across 7 chapters, and one-click model setup make onboarding genuinely low-friction. The FAQ anticipates real objections. Missing: live demo or video walkthrough.

Design

Polished, confident landing page with strong typography, a clear app mockup, and a well-structured pricing page. The design feels modern and purpose-built for Mac users, though the app UI itself is only seen via marketing mockups.

Speed

Lighthouse mobile 100/100 with LCP 948ms and CLS 0.001; desktop 99/100. The site is lightweight and snappy, with no heavy SPA overhead. A genuinely fast marketing site.

Security

Accessibility

Lighthouse accessibility 96/100 with only a color-contrast failure. English/German support and a clean, semantic layout help. No explicit WCAG statement or screen-reader documentation found.

Growth

A specific, underserved segment (professionals with confidential data), a clear one-time-price wedge against subscriptions, and a real differentiator (auto model selection + app integrations) vs. Ollama/LM Studio. The category has headroom.

Improvement areas

No SOC 2, ISO, or independent security audit despite targeting professionals with confidential data
Missing HSTS, CSP, and frame protection on the marketing site
App UI only shown via marketing mockups; no live demo or video walkthrough

Design & Usability

Gerty's site is a cut above the typical indie Mac app: bold typography, a clear app mockup, and a pricing page that answers objections before you ask them. The 7-day no-signup trial is genuinely low-friction, and 21 pages of docs across 7 chapters is more than most solo developers bother with. The gap is the app itself — we only see it through marketing mockups, and there's no video or live demo to show the notch assistant or Mail integration actually working. Design and usability are strong on the marketing side; the product UI remains partly unverified.

Speed & Security

Speed is a genuine strength: Lighthouse mobile 100/100, LCP under a second, and a static-feeling site that loads instantly. Security is the weaker flank. HTTPS and Stripe checkout are fine, but missing HSTS, CSP, and frame protection undercut the 'professional secrecy' pitch, and there's no SOC 2, ISO, or audit claim anywhere. For an app asking doctors and lawyers to trust it with confidential data, 'no cloud' is a good start but not a compliance story. The header probe found 7 of 12 checklist items — competent for an indie site, thin for the audience.

Accessibility & Growth

Accessibility scores well on automated checks (96/100) with a single contrast failure, and English/German support is a plus. There's no WCAG statement or screen-reader documentation, which is a missed signal for a professional audience. Growth is the most interesting dimension: Gerty targets a specific, underserved segment (professionals who can't use cloud AI), prices at CHF 49 once against CHF 20/month subscriptions, and differentiates from Ollama/LM Studio by auto-selecting models and integrating with Mail, Calendar, files, voice, and screen. The category has real headroom as privacy concerns grow, though trust remains the bottleneck for the target buyer.

Conclusion

If you're a Mac user who wants a ChatGPT-style assistant without sending your data to a data centre, Gerty's one-time CHF 49 price and one-click model setup make it worth the 7-day trial. If you're a professional handling confidential data, the pitch is right but the compliance evidence isn't there yet — ask for a security questionnaire before you commit. Either way, the site loads fast and the docs are real, which is more than most indie AI apps can say.

Suggestions for improvement

Add a security page with a clear data-flow diagram and any audit or pen-test results, even a self-assessment.
Publish a short video or interactive demo showing the notch assistant, Mail integration, and document search in action.
Add an accessibility statement and fix the single color-contrast failure flagged by Lighthouse.
Enable HSTS and a basic CSP on the marketing site to match the privacy-first positioning.

How we score

Alternatives comparison

Named competitors, point by point. Nobody paid to appear here or to be left out.

	Gerty	Ollama	LM Studio	Jan
Pricing model	CHF 49 one-time, 3 Macs, free 7-day trial	Free, open-source	Free for personal use	Free, open-source
Model setup	Auto-selects best models for your Mac, one-click setup	Manual model selection and CLI setup	GUI model browser, manual selection	Manual model download and configuration
Native app integrations	Mail, Calendar, files, screen, voice, notch assistant, MCP connectors	API only; no built-in app integrations	Focused on model experimentation; limited integrations	Fewer native Mac integrations; more configuration required
Privacy / offline operation	Fully offline after model download; no account, no cloud	Runs locally; offline capable	Runs locally; offline capable	Runs locally; offline capable
Target user	Professionals with confidential data; privacy-conscious Mac users	Developers and technical users comfortable with CLI	Model experimenters and researchers	Open-source enthusiasts willing to configure

Ollama

A tool for running open-source language models locally on your computer, but requires manual setup and lacks built-in app integrations.

LM Studio

A desktop app for running local LLMs with a GUI, but focuses on model experimentation rather than acting as a full assistant with mail, calendar, and voice.

Jan

An open-source ChatGPT alternative that runs offline on your computer, but offers fewer native Mac integrations and requires more configuration.

Comparing options? See Gerty alternatives, scored side by side

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