Bonfire Terminal vs Vellum
Vellum is a cloud-hosted AI agent development platform, Series A funded and sold by monthly subscription, spanning OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or any model with no training on your data. Bonfire Terminal is a sovereign on-device agent instead: your prompts and data stay local, your own key at cost, and you own it once.
Bonfire Terminal vs Vellum: the 16-factor comparison
| Rating factor | Vellum | Bonfire Terminal |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI Agent Framework | AI Terminal / Local Agent |
| Popularity | Series A (~$5M) | Growing · indie |
| Hosting architecture | Cloud-Hosted | On-Device Local |
| Licensing model | Monthly Subscription | One-Time Perpetual |
| Data / training policy | No training on user data | Fully local — nothing leaves device |
| Offline capability | No | Yes |
| Pricing tier range | Not disclosed | One-time license |
| Execution unit cost | Subscription | Unlimited Local Compute |
| API-key markup | N/A | No — BYO key at cost |
| Supported LLM providers | OpenAI;Anthropic;Google;Any | OpenAI; Anthropic; Google; Local; Any |
| Auth / permission types | API Key;SSO | API Key; Local/None |
| Phone / messaging bridges | None | Telegram; WhatsApp |
| Speech recognition engine | None | Whisper (local) |
| Local media processing | No | Yes |
| Sovereign score | 38 / 100 | 93 / 100 |
The sovereignty gap
Where Vellum lands on each weighted pillar (its bar) — the red marker is Bonfire's score. Auto-derived from the 16 factors above.
Which should you choose?
Choose Vellum if…
Choose Vellum if you want a cloud platform for prompt engineering, testing, and deploying production LLM applications with evaluation tooling.
Choose Bonfire Terminal if…
Choose Bonfire Terminal if you want an on-device agent you own outright, running prompts and data locally rather than through a hosted developer platform.
Bonfire Terminal vs Vellum: FAQ
Is Vellum private?
Vellum states it does not train on user data, but it is cloud-hosted, so your prompts and test data pass through its servers. Bonfire Terminal runs on-device, so everything stays on your machine and no server processes it.
Is Bonfire Terminal cheaper than Vellum?
Vellum's subscription pricing is unpublished and geared to production teams. Bonfire Terminal is a one-time perpetual license, after which you pay LLM providers directly at cost with no markup, giving predictable and typically lower ongoing costs.
Can Bonfire Terminal replace Vellum?
Partly. Vellum specializes in prompt engineering, evaluation, and deploying production LLM apps with team tooling. Bonfire's on-device agent builds and runs agents with your key, but it lacks Vellum's hosted testing and deployment infrastructure.
What can Bonfire Terminal do that Vellum can't?
Bonfire runs fully on-device and adds Telegram and WhatsApp bridges, local Whisper speech recognition, and local media processing, under one license. Vellum is a cloud developer platform without on-device operation, messaging bridges, or local voice and media.
How do I switch from Vellum to Bonfire Terminal?
Export your prompts and configurations from Vellum and rebuild them as Bonfire agents on-device with your own LLM key. Since both support major providers, your model choices carry over into Bonfire's local environment.
Does Bonfire Terminal work offline vs Vellum?
Vellum is cloud-hosted with no offline capability. Bonfire Terminal runs on-device, so Whisper transcription and local media processing work offline; LLM calls need connectivity but route directly to your own provider key.