Modèle Updated 2026-04

SLM (Small Language Model)

Small Language Model
Definition

An SLM is a compact language model optimized to run on local devices with targeted performance on specific tasks.

See also in the glossary

L
LLM (Large Language Model)
An LLM is an AI model trained on billions of texts, capable of understanding and generating human language.
F
Foundation Model
A foundation model is a large AI model pre-trained on massive data, adaptable to multiple tasks.
Q
Quantization
Quantization reduces the precision of numbers in an AI model to make it smaller and faster, with minimal quality loss.
A
AI Inference
Inference is the process of using a trained AI model to generate predictions or responses from new data.

Tools that use slm

D
DeepSeek
The open source Chinese model rivaling GPT-4
4.7/5
M
Mistral Le Chat
The sovereign European AI, GDPR-compliant
4.5/5
O
OpenClaw
The open source AI agent that turns your LLMs into autonomous workers
4.5/5
R
Replit
Cloud IDE with built-in AI for coding from anywhere
4.5/5

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between SLM and LLM?
An LLM has billions of parameters and requires powerful GPUs. An SLM has a few billion parameters and can run on a laptop or smartphone.
Are SLMs worse?
On general tasks, yes. But on specific tasks they're optimized for, they can rival much larger LLMs.