The Best Private AI for Scientists
Okara is a private, secure, and high-performance AI workspace designed for scientists, research labs, and academic teams. Your datasets, experiments, papers, and notes stay encrypted and protected, with access to 20+ open-source AI models.
Powered by the best open-source AI models, self-hosted on Okara
Why Scientists Are Switching to Okara
Okara provides open-source models, file-based analysis, shared recall, and privacy-first processing, making it perfect for research synthesis, data modeling, literature review, and collaborative experiments without risking intellectual property.
Privacy-First by Design
Most AI tools process or store your data in ways you can't control. Okara takes a fundamentally different approach:
Encrypted-at-rest chat & file storage
Your conversations, uploads, and workspace memory remain encrypted and safe.
Zero training on your data
Your prompts, documents, PDFs, and conversations never train the models.
Client-side key generation
Your private keys never leave your device.
Full data sovereignty
Your ideas remain yours, never repurposed, never harvested.
Okara is Better Than a Single Closed Model
Okara is the best ChatGPT alternative for experts who want flexibility across writing, research, code, design, and analysis.
Latest open-source LLMs
Get access to the latest models from leading open-source LLMs such as Llama, Kimi, GLM, DeepSeek, Mistral, etc.
Real-time Search
Execute web, Reddit, X/Twitter, and YouTube research using AI and prompting.
Multi-model switching
Switch between different AI models inside the same chat interface without losing context.
All types of models
Get access to reasoning models, Coding assistants, Summarization models, Research models, Image generation models, and more.
Collaborative AI for Teams
ChatGPT is designed for personal chats and isolated history. Okara is the first private AI workspace for teams:
Shared AI Chat
Collaborate with your team inside one AI thread.
Shared context
Everyone works with the same information.
Shared memory
The workspace remembers everything allowed inside it.
Shared intelligence
Your team builds a collective AI that compounds knowledge across people, files, and workflows.
Here's How Research Scientists Are Using Okara
Specialized AI assistance for research professionals
Academic Researchers
Literature Review & Paper Writing
- Literature Review: Summarize papers without exposing your research
- Paper Drafting: Draft manuscripts securely
- Citation Analysis: Analyze citations confidentially
- Grant Writing: Prepare grant proposals privately
Lab Scientists
Data Analysis & Experiment Design
- Data Analysis: Analyze experimental data securely
- Protocol Development: Design experiments confidentially
- Results Interpretation: Interpret findings privately
- Lab Reports: Generate reports without data exposure
Clinical Researchers
Trial Design & Analysis
- Trial Design: Design clinical trials securely
- Data Review: Review trial data confidentially
- Regulatory Docs: Prepare submissions privately
- Publication Prep: Draft papers without leaks
Industry R&D
Product Development & Innovation
- Patent Research: Research prior art securely
- Product Analysis: Analyze products confidentially
- Competitive Intel: Research competitors privately
- Innovation Planning: Plan R&D strategies securely
What others are saying about Okara, the best Scientists Alternative
“I use Okara for analyzing datasets and papers. The encryption and privacy controls are exactly what research teams need.”
Dr. Thomas G
Biochemist
“Okara helps me structure research notes without risking early findings or IP leakage.”
Dr. Jenna M
Physics Researcher
“The open-source model access inside Okara is incredible. Perfect balance of innovation and security.”
Dr. Lucas B.
AI Research Scientist
Simple pricing for everyone
Start free, upgrade when you're ready. No hidden fees, no surprises.
Pro
500 Pro credits (~5000 messages)
Unlimited Lite model usage
Loved by 26,000+ users
Get 20+ latest Open-Source text and image models
Get real-time insights directly in your chats
Founding User
Lifetime Pro access
Only 100 founding member spots available
Become a founding member and get:
Okara Helps You 10X Your Research Workflow
Transform how you work with AI-powered tools designed specifically for research scientists
Literature & Data Analysis
Query AI on papers, datasets, or research documents with uploaded files for instant summaries and insights.
Paper & Report Writing
Draft manuscripts, reports, and grant proposals while maintaining full control over your research.
Research Confidentiality
Keep all research data private and secure, no training on your data, no third-party access.
Collaborative Research
Upload datasets, papers, or experimental results for AI-assisted analysis and collaboration.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Okara as a Scientists alternative
For professionals and teams needing privacy, compliance, and transparency, Okara is currently the best Scientists alternative. It offers open-source models, encrypted chats, and collaboration features not available in Scientists.
You may need a Scientists alternative if you:
- Work with sensitive data
- Need privacy and encryption
- Prefer open-source AI models
- Want team collaboration features
- Want predictable pricing
- Want more control over your AI workflows
Okara solves all of these pain points.
Yes — Okara is a private, encrypted Scientists alternative. Your chats, files, and documents are encrypted at rest and are never used for model training. Scientists cannot provide this level of privacy.
Okara is built entirely on top of the latest open-source models like Llama, Qwen, Gemma, Mistral, and DeepSeek. This makes it the best open-source-based Scientists alternative for professionals.
Yes. Okara allows multi-member collaboration, shared memory, shared context, document upload, and persistent workspaces — features Scientists does not support in a team-friendly way.
Absolutely. Many professionals use Okara as their default AI tool for:
- Writing
- Research
- Coding
- Data analysis
- Content creation
- Legal / medical analysis
- Brainstorming
- Document workflows
It is designed as a full replacement for Scientists.
Yes — Okara never uses your chats or files for training. Scientists does unless you specifically opt out.
- Full data ownership
- Zero training
- Workspace collaboration
- Role-based access (coming)
- Shared memory
- Integrations roadmap
- Enterprise-ready privacy
Businesses prefer Okara because they get control, transparency, and compliance.
Yes — Okara is a flat $15/month with unlimited usage, making it far more affordable than Scientists's credit-based or usage-based pricing.
Okara is better for privacy-heavy industries because it:
- Encrypts data
- Supports open-source models
- Never trains on your data
- Allows document uploads
- Provides a shared workspace for teams
Professionals working with confidential information overwhelmingly prefer Okara.
Yes. Teams can securely upload a wide range of documents, including:
- PDFs
- DOCX files
- Spreadsheets (CSV, XLSX)
- Presentations
- Images
- Text files
- Research papers
- Case studies
- Product documentation
- Code snippets
These files remain encrypted and private, never used for training any AI models.
Workspace is ideal for:
- Startups & founders needing rapid iteration
- Marketing teams & creative agencies
- Product & UX teams
- Engineering & dev teams
- Research teams & analysts
- Leadership teams for strategy & planning
- Consultants & client-facing teams
- Remote & distributed teams
Any team that collaborates, plans, documents, or solves problems will benefit from Workspace.
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