Ollama Hosting on CPU Servers — No GPU Needed
Deploy Ollama in 3 Simple Steps.
Choose Your Server
Solo developer or learning?
Team of 5-10 people?
Production or high availability?
Select "OpenWebUI with Ollama"
- Click the Apps Menu
- Select OpenWebUI
- Complete Checkout
Start Chatting
- OpenWebUI URL
- SSH Credentials
- Quick start guide
Why Host Ollama on Hivelocity?
Your conversations, prompts, and model outputs never leave your server. Unlike AI services (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.), you maintain complete control over your data.
- Healthcare data processing
- Legal document analysis
- Financial services applications
- Any regulated industry requiring data sovereignty
CPU-optimized Ollama runs 7B-8B models efficiently without expensive GPU hardware.
- GPU dedicated servers: $1,500-$5,000/month
- Cloud GPU instances (AWS): $400-$1,000/month + egress
- Hivelocity Ollama servers: $65-$880/month
For 80% of Ollama use cases (development, internal tools, chatbots), CPU is sufficient.
No API round-trips to OpenAI/Anthropic. Inference happens directly on your server.
- OpenAI API: 200-800ms (network + queue + inference)
- Your Ollama server: 50-200ms (inference only, no network)
- Plus: No rate limits. No quotas. No vendor outages affecting your application.
-
- Run any ollama-supported model (Llama, Mistral, CodeLlama, Gemma, etc.)
- Customize system prompts and parameters
- Update models on your schedule
- No vendor lock-in or API changes breaking your code
Skip the 4-Hour Setup. Start Chatting in Minutes.
Start inferencing immediately. No Docker knowledge required. No terminal commands needed.
The Traditional Way (DIY Setup)
- Provision a server (30-60 minutes)
- Set up OpenWebUI interface (45 minutes)
- Download and configure models (20-60 minutes)
- Configure networking, auth, and security (60+ minutes)
3-4 hours
The Hivelocity Way (One-Click)
- Select your server (VDS or Instant Dedicated)
- Choose "OpenWebUI with Ollama" from Apps menu
- Complete checkout
- Access your OpenWebUI URL and start chatting
5-10 minutes
No GPU? No Problem.
While many LLMs require expensive GPU acceleration, Ollama is optimized for CPU and performs impressively on models like:
Llama 3.1 8B
(pre-installed with our One-Click App)
Mistral 7B
(fast, capable, great for chatbots)
CodeLlama 7B
(code completion and generation)
Gemma 7B
(Google's efficient open model)
These models strike a solid balance between performance and capability, making them ideal for running locally on CPU-powered servers.
Real-World Performance
CPU-based inference with 4-bit quantized models (Q4_K_M)
vs Your Laptop
- 3-5X faster than M2 MacBook Pro
- More RAM for larger models
- No thermal throttling
- Always accessible
vs GPU Servers
- GPU: 50-150 tok/s but $1,500-$5K/mo
- CPU: 10-25 tok/s at $65-$880/mo
- Ideal when cost matters more than extreme speed
vs Cloud LLM APIs
- Similar latency but usage-based pricing
- Example: 1M tokens/day = $45K/year
- Hivelocity: $780-$10.5K/year*
Perfect for AI Applications.
- HR policy chatbot
- Documentation search
- IT helpdesk assistant
- Sales enablement bot
- Code completion & generation
- API documentation Q&A
- Code review assistance
- Architecture decisions
- Legal document analysis
- Medical records
- Research paper synthesis
- Customer support knowledge base
- Prompt engineering experiment
- Multi-modal comparison
- RAG pipeline development
- Fine-tuning preparation
- University AI courses
- Corporate AI training
- Personal skill development
- Research experiments
- Healthcare: Patient data analysis
- Finance: Risk assessment
- Legal: Contract analysis
- Government: Classified processing
Frequently Asked Questions.
Can this really run without a GPU?
Yes! Our servers are CPU-only, and Ollama is specifically optimized for CPU inference. Models like Llama 3.1 8B (pre-installed) and other 7B-8B models run smoothly on CPU-powered servers with Q4 quantization.
When CPU is perfect:
- 7B-13B models (80% of use cases)
- 1-20 concurrent users
- Development, testing, internal tools
- Cost is a primary concern
When you need GPU:
- Running 70B+ parameter models
- Serving 50+ concurrent users
- Requiring <100ms latency
What models can I run?
Pre-installed: Llama 3.1 8B (ready to use immediately)
Recommended for CPU (smooth performance):
- Llama 3/3.1 8B
- Other 7B-8B models available in Ollama library
Possible on Dedicated tiers (slower):
- 13B-14B models with Q4 quantization
You can add any Ollama-supported model after deployment.
Is my data private?
Completely. Everything runs on your dedicated server:
- Your conversations never leave your infrastructure
- Your prompts aren’t sent to third-party AI services
- Your model outputs stay on your server
- You control who has access
Unlike cloud AI services:
- OpenAI/Anthropic: Your data goes to their servers
- Hivelocity: Your data stays on YOUR server
Perfect for: Healthcare (HIPAA), finance (SOC 2), legal, government, or any regulated industry requiring data sovereignty.
Can I add more models?
Yes! After deployment, you can pull any Ollama-supported model.
Via OpenWebUI (easiest):
- Click “Models” in sidebar
- Search Ollama library
- Click “Pull” on any model
- Model downloads and appears automatically
What's the difference between VDS and Instant Dedicated?
VDS (Virtual Dedicated Server):
- Lower cost ($65/month)
- Quick deployment (~7 min)
- Virtualized (small performance overhead)
- Limited RAM (24GB)
Best for: Learning, solo development, budget-conscious projects
Instant Dedicated (Bare Metal):
- Higher performance (no virtualization)
- More RAM (64GB-512GB)
- Consistent performance (no noisy neighbors)
- Higher cost ($249-$880/month)
Best for: Teams, production, multiple models, high reliability
Simple rule: Start with VDS for learning. Upgrade to Dedicated when you need better performance or team access.
Do I need technical expertise?
What you DON’T need to know:
- Docker
- Linux server administration
- Networking configuration
- Security hardening
- Ollama installation steps
What you DO need:
- How to use a web browser (access OpenWebUI URL)
- Basic chat interface usage (like ChatGPT)
- (Optional) SSH for advanced model management
Most users never need to SSH and only use the web interface.
Can I upgrade my server later?
Yes, flexible upgrade paths:
From VDS → Dedicated Team: Migrate your models and data with 1-hour downtime. We can assist.
From Dedicated Team → Dedicated Production: Upgrade to more powerful server with minimal downtime.
Upgrade process:
- Contact support to schedule
- We provision new server with One-Click App
- You migrate data (or we assist)
- Update DNS to point to new server
- Old server decommissioned