moondream
Frontier Labs · Free + paid
Open vision-language models small enough to run anywhere in production
At a glance
- Made by
- M87 Labs (Moondream)
- Korean
- None (English and a few others only)
- API
- Yes
- Available on
- Web, Mac, Windows, API
- Open source
- Business Source License 1.1 (Additional Use Grant, third-party services prohibited)
- GitHub
- 10,110 stars · Apache-2.0
What is moondream?
Moondream is a family of open-weight vision language models (VLMs) from M87 Labs with built-in object detection, pointing, counting, question answering, captioning, and image segmentation. It consists of four products: the open model, Lens, a fine-tuning platform, Photon, an inference engine, and Moondream Cloud, hosted inference. The model and Photon are free, Cloud and Lens are billed per token, and team and enterprise plans add collaboration and support. The homepage has an announcement that Moondream is joining Prime Intellect.
- Built-in object detection, pointing, counting, visual question answering, captioning, and image segmentation
- Moondream 3.1: 9B MoE (2B active), 32k context
- Lens: fine-tuning (SFT, RL) through a simple API, possible from as few as 20 labels
- Photon inference engine: Mac, Windows, CUDA, from Jetson to B200
- Moondream Cloud: OpenAI-compatible API, billed per image
- Local execution and air-gapped deployment available
Who uses moondream and for what
- Detecting misplaced boxes on manufacturing and logistics floors
- Large-scale vision analysis across many cameras
- Deployment in regulated environments such as healthcare (HIPAA/BAA, Enterprise)
Pricing
What you get for free — Yes (model and Photon free, $5 usage credit every month, no card required)
| Plan | Price | Main limits |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 1 seat, personal workspace, Discord support, $5 credit per month |
| Team | $350/mo | 10 seats, shared fine-tuning, projects, and API keys, $300/month with annual billing |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | Custom seats, HIPAA/BAA, priority support, contact sales |
| Cloud (Moondream 3.1 real-time) | $0.3 | $0.30 per 1M input tokens, $1.00 per 1M output tokens |
| Cloud (Moondream 3.1 batch) | $0.15 | $0.15 per 1M input tokens, $0.50 per 1M output tokens |
| Lens training | $0.6 | $0.60 per 1M training tokens |
Checked on the official pages on 2026-10-14. Prices and features can change, so check the official site again before paying. · Official pricing page
AI tools similar to moondream (alternatives)
moondream vs. alternatives at a glance
| AI | Pricing | Combos on the map | Connected tools | Free | Cheapest monthly | Korean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| moondream | Free + paid | 0 | 5 | Yes | $350/mo | No |
| Alibaba DAMO Academy | Free + paid | 0 | 21 | — | — | — |
| Alibaba Tongyi | Free | 0 | 21 | — | — | No |
| Black Forest Labs | Free + paid | 0 | 21 | Yes | — | No |
| Databricks Mosaic | Free | 0 | 21 | Yes | — | Yes |
3 of these 5 tools have a free plan. Cheapest paid plan: moondream ($350/mo).
Combo and connection counts are based on the relationships recorded on AI Galaxy Map (2026-10-26); they are not a quality ranking.
moondream on AI Galaxy Map
- One of 56 AI tools in the Frontier Labs field.
- Connected to 5 other tools — #16 in its field.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use moondream for free?
Yes (model and Photon free, $5 usage credit every month, no card required). Prices can change, so check the official site before paying.
What AI can I use instead of moondream?
Tools that do the same job, such as Alibaba DAMO Academy, Alibaba Tongyi, Black Forest Labs, Databricks Mosaic, are connected to it on the map.
Can I use moondream in Korean?
None (English and a few others only)
Sources (official pages)
Checked on the official pages on 2026-10-14. Prices and features can change, so check the official site again before paying.