Restructuring an existing function or module without changing behavior. The chat-only local desktop apps category runs open weights on your own hardware, as Outlier does, so for refactoring the deciding difference is not the data path but what is built around the model. Outlier answers it with the on-device Core tier and, with Pro, an agent loop that reads your files and runs and checks code. This page is the side-by-side specifically for refactoring workloads.
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Free to start (Nano and Lite). macOS 15+, Apple silicon. Refund window: 30 days, no questions asked.
For refactoring, Outlier and chat-only local desktop apps both keep the prompt and the response on your Mac. Local desktop apps for chatting with a model that runs on your own hardware. Outlier runs refactoring on the recommended Core tier from the on-disk checkpoint and, with Pro, adds the agent loop described above.
Local execution, varies by tool. For a refactoring workflow against chat-only local desktop apps, the prompt stays on the machine on both sides, so neither tail latency nor provider-side logging separates them. Outlier’s chat path on the Core tier issues no outbound HTTPS once the model is on disk, and your chats, files and prompts never leave the Mac. The app does go online for a few other things: the one-time 15.13 GB tier download from Hugging Face, the update check, the price shown when an upgrade window opens and, on Pro, the licence check. Web search goes out only if you turn it on (Pro).
If you are coming from chat-only local desktop apps for refactoring, the right starting point on Outlier is the Core tier: 15.13 GB on disk, sitting at the quality-vs-speed inflection point for refactoring; chat-only local desktop apps users typically want what they had plus privacy; the Core tier is the closest match for that without giving up answer quality. Heavier work moves up to the higher tiers in the same app; the Quick tier is not the pick for agent-driven work on refactoring, because it produced no patch in any of 50 tries on a blind SWE-bench Verified sample.
Moving a refactoring workflow from chat-only local desktop apps to Outlier is a one-time DMG install plus a 15.13 GB pull for the Core tier. Outlier has no sign-in step, no per-token meter, and no rate-limit page to redirect through. The Core tier is part of Pro, so you paste a licence key once to activate it; Nano and Lite are the free tiers. The refactoring loop after install is open-prompt to local-decode.
For a refactoring workload moving off chat-only local desktop apps onto the Core tier: Core is the coding tier. It was briefly split into a separate “Code” entry that shared the identical weights; that split is gone and Core carries the code-first defaults. The MLX explainer has the per-tier breakdown if you want to see how it compares with chat-only local desktop apps. The measured accuracy figures are on the tier benchmarks page (MMLU for every tier but Plus; HumanEval for Core and Vision 3.8 only), and for refactoring specifically: HumanEval measures writing a function from a description, which is adjacent to but not the same as rewriting one that already exists and must keep its behaviour.
Refactoring runs are long-prompt, long-output: paste a function and ask for the rewrite. Core defaults to a 32K-token context window and goes up to 128K on Pro, so a whole file and its imports usually fit without truncation.
Outlier’s local-only chat path has no sign-in, no auth token and no metered usage: the refactoring workflow runs against the on-disk Core tier, no token leaves the device.
This page positions Outlier as an alternative to chat-only local desktop apps for refactoring workflows, not as a drop-in replacement. Specific product surfaces in the chat-only local desktop apps category (IDE-integrated suggestions, web-based shared sessions, team-managed prompt libraries) are out of scope for the local app loop and we do not claim equivalence for those when refactoring is part of a larger team workflow.
For refactoring: chat-only local desktop apps also run on your own hardware, so there is no network round-trip to separate them from Outlier on the Core tier; the difference is the surface around the model.
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Outlier Pro: $49 once · Black Friday price, all of November: $24.50 once, until 30 November
Refund window: 30 days, no questions asked.
Open weights ship constantly and most are not worth your disk. When one beats a tier Outlier already has, on hardware you already own, we say so and what it replaces. That is the only reason we email.
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