Pace vs LocalNotch

Choosing between Pace and LocalNotch?

LocalNotch runs fully on-device, and it's open source under a MIT license. It calls itself "Local AI assistant that lives in your MacBook's notch — chat, vision, file agent, all on-device.".

Where Pace differs: LocalNotch shares Pace's notch surface but is text/image only — no voice input or TTS. It's a different interaction model. Pace is voice-first; LocalNotch is hover-and-type. The notch integration pattern is worth studying.

The full breakdown is below — what LocalNotch is genuinely good at, its stack, and the honest line on where Pace diverges, including where Pace is behind. For the whole field in one place, see every macOS voice agent compared.

LocalNotch

github.com/arshawnarbabi/LocalNotch

Local AI assistant that lives in your MacBook's notch — chat, vision, file agent, all on-device. — arshawnarbabi

STT · None (text and image input only) Reasoner · Local (Ollama — user selects model) TTS · None (text output only) Screen · yes

What it's good at

  • Lives in the MacBook notch — hover to open, type to ask, then disappears. No window management.
  • Autonomous file-system Agent Mode with approval workflow.
  • Optional Brave Search with 3-layer hybrid classifier for automatic web search.

Where Pace differs

LocalNotch shares Pace's notch surface but is text/image only — no voice input or TTS. It's a different interaction model. Pace is voice-first; LocalNotch is hover-and-type. The notch integration pattern is worth studying.

Rechecked June 2026.
If LocalNotch shipped something I missed or got cheaper since, email me and I'll update this page.

Pace is $29 once, fully on-device, and free to try on Apple Intelligence.

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