Your rig
M1 · 16 GB · 16 GB
16 GB unified · 68 GB/s · 10.7 GB addressable by the GPU
Which one should I actually run?
Best models for your M1 · 16 GB
What do you want to do? Each row is the best-ranked model on that use case's shortlist that fits at Q3_K_M and 8K. The ordering is editorial; the sizes and speeds are computed. How the shortlists work.
All
General assistantCodingReasoning & mathsWritingVisionAgents & tool useTranslationLow latencyLong context
| Recommendation | Model | Why | Quant · total | Tok/s est. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall | Gemma 4 12B Google · Apache 2.0 |
The 12 GB generalist: text, image and audio in, 140+ languages. | Q3_K_M · 6.9 GB | 7.0 | Runs great |
| Best for coding | Qwen3.5 9B Alibaba · Apache 2.0 |
The best coding model for 8–12 GB cards. | Q3_K_M · 5.2 GB | 8.7 | Runs great |
| Best reasoning | Qwen3.5 9B Alibaba · Apache 2.0 |
Thinking mode on a 12 GB card — ahead of the 2025 R1 distills. | Q3_K_M · 5.2 GB | 8.7 | Runs great |
| Best for writing | Gemma 4 12B Google · Apache 2.0 |
The 12 GB writing pick; 140+ languages. | Q3_K_M · 6.9 GB | 7.0 | Runs great |
| Best vision | Gemma 4 12B Google · Apache 2.0 |
Image and audio understanding on 12 GB. | Q3_K_M · 6.9 GB | 7.0 | Runs great |
| Best for agents | Granite 4.1 8B IBM · Apache 2.0 |
Enterprise-grade tool calling in a dense 8B, no thinking overhead. | Q3_K_M · 5.9 GB | 9.5 | Runs great |
| Best translation | Gemma 4 12B Google · Apache 2.0 |
Broad language coverage on a 12 GB card. | Q3_K_M · 6.9 GB | 7.0 | Runs great |
| Fastest good model | LFM2.5 8B-A1B Liquid AI · LFM Open License v1.0 |
1.5B active; designed for laptops without a GPU. | Q3_K_M · 4.5 GB | 26 | Runs great |
| Best long context | Qwen3.5 9B Alibaba · Apache 2.0 |
262K native in 8–12 GB. | Q3_K_M · 9.0 GB at 128K context |
8.7 | Runs great |
Everything that fits
Runs great
37 of 76 · fits with headroom for a longer prompt| Model | Params | Quant | Weights | +KV 8K | Total | VRAM headroom | Tok/s | Runtime | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 14B | 14.8B | Q3_K_M | 6.7 GB | 1.25 GB | 8.6 GB |
2.1 GB free
|
5.6 | MLX | Run |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 14B | 14.8B | Q3_K_M | 6.7 GB | 1.50 GB | 8.8 GB |
1.9 GB free
|
5.6 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B | 14.8B | Q3_K_M | 6.7 GB | 1.50 GB | 8.8 GB |
1.9 GB free
|
5.6 | MLX | Run |
| Phi-4 14B | 14.7B | Q3_K_M | 6.7 GB | 1.56 GB | 8.9 GB |
1.8 GB free
|
5.7 | MLX | Run |
| Ministral 3 14B | 13.9B | Q3_K_M | 6.3 GB | 1.25 GB | 8.2 GB |
2.5 GB free
|
6.0 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 3 12B | 12.2B | Q3_K_M | 5.6 GB | 0.81 GB | 7.0 GB |
3.7 GB free
|
6.8 | MLX | Run |
| Mistral NeMo 12B | 12.2B | Q3_K_M | 5.6 GB | 1.25 GB | 7.4 GB |
3.3 GB free
|
6.8 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 4 12B | 12B | Q3_K_M | 5.5 GB | 0.81 GB | 6.9 GB |
3.8 GB free
|
7.0 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.5 9B | 9.65B | Q3_K_M | 4.4 GB | 0.25 GB | 5.2 GB |
5.5 GB free
|
8.7 | MLX | Run |
| Ornith 1.5 9B New this week | 9.41B | Q3_K_M | 4.3 GB | 0.25 GB | 5.1 GB |
5.6 GB free
|
8.9 | MLX | Run |
| Ministral 3 8B | 8.92B | Q3_K_M | 4.1 GB | 1.06 GB | 5.7 GB |
5.0 GB free
|
9.4 | MLX | Run |
| Granite 4.1 8B | 8.79B | Q3_K_M | 4.0 GB | 1.25 GB | 5.9 GB |
4.8 GB free
|
9.5 | MLX | Run |
| LFM2.5 8B-A1B | 8.47B MoE / 1.5B act | Q3_K_M | 3.9 GB | 0.09 GB | 4.5 GB |
6.2 GB free
|
26 | MLX | Run |
| Fara 7B | 8.29B | Q3_K_M | 3.8 GB | 0.44 GB | 4.8 GB |
5.9 GB free
|
10 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 8B | 8.19B | Q3_K_M | 3.7 GB | 1.13 GB | 5.5 GB |
5.2 GB free
|
10 | MLX | Run |
| Llama 3.1 8B Instruct | 8.03B | Q3_K_M | 3.7 GB | 1.00 GB | 5.3 GB |
5.4 GB free
|
10 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 4 E4B | 8.0B | Q3_K_M | 3.6 GB | 0.14 GB | 4.4 GB |
6.3 GB free
|
10 | MLX | Run |
| Ling 3.0 Tiny 7.9B-A1.3B New | 7.9B MoE / 1.3B act | Q3_K_M | 3.6 GB | 0.05 GB | 4.2 GB |
6.5 GB free
|
30 | MLX | Run |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 7B | 7.62B | Q3_K_M | 3.5 GB | 0.44 GB | 4.5 GB |
6.2 GB free
|
11 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 7B | 7.62B | Q3_K_M | 3.5 GB | 0.44 GB | 4.5 GB |
6.2 GB free
|
11 | MLX | Run |
| Olmo 3 7B Instruct | 7.3B | Q3_K_M | 3.3 GB | 2.50 GB | 6.4 GB |
4.3 GB free
|
11 | MLX | Run |
| Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 | 7.25B | Q3_K_M | 3.3 GB | 1.00 GB | 4.9 GB |
5.8 GB free
|
12 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 4 E2B | 5.1B | Q3_K_M | 2.3 GB | 0.07 GB | 3.0 GB |
7.7 GB free
|
16 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.5 4B | 4.66B | Q3_K_M | 2.1 GB | 0.25 GB | 3.0 GB |
7.7 GB free
|
18 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 3 4B | 4.3B | Q3_K_M | 2.0 GB | 0.30 GB | 2.9 GB |
7.8 GB free
|
19 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 4B | 4.02B | Q3_K_M | 1.8 GB | 1.13 GB | 3.6 GB |
7.1 GB free
|
21 | MLX | Run |
| Ministral 3 3B | 3.85B | Q3_K_M | 1.8 GB | 0.81 GB | 3.2 GB |
7.5 GB free
|
22 | MLX | Run |
| Phi-4-mini 3.8B | 3.84B | Q3_K_M | 1.7 GB | 1.00 GB | 3.3 GB |
7.4 GB free
|
22 | MLX | Run |
| Granite 4.1 3B | 3.4B | Q3_K_M | 1.5 GB | 0.63 GB | 2.8 GB |
7.9 GB free
|
25 | MLX | Run |
| Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | 3.21B | Q3_K_M | 1.5 GB | 0.88 GB | 2.9 GB |
7.8 GB free
|
26 | MLX | Run |
| LFM2.5 2.6B New | 2.7B | Q3_K_M | 1.2 GB | 0.13 GB | 2.0 GB |
8.7 GB free
|
31 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.5 2B | 2.27B | Q3_K_M | 1.0 GB | 0.09 GB | 1.7 GB |
9.0 GB free
|
37 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 1.7B | 1.72B | Q3_K_M | 0.8 GB | 0.88 GB | 2.3 GB |
8.4 GB free
|
49 | MLX | Run |
| Llama 3.2 1B Instruct | 1.24B | Q3_K_M | 0.6 GB | 0.25 GB | 1.4 GB |
9.3 GB free
|
67 | MLX | Run |
| Gemma 3 1B | 1.0B | Q3_K_M | 0.5 GB | 0.04 GB | 1.1 GB |
9.6 GB free
|
83 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3.5 0.8B | 0.87B | Q3_K_M | 0.4 GB | 0.09 GB | 1.1 GB |
9.6 GB free
|
96 | MLX | Run |
| Qwen3 0.6B | 0.6B | Q3_K_M | 0.3 GB | 0.88 GB | 1.7 GB |
9.0 GB free
|
139 | MLX | Run |
Won't fit in VRAM
39 models · some are possible with CPU offload| Model | Params | Quant | Weights | +KV 8K | Total | Over budget | Tok/s | Runtime | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimi K3 2.8T-A104B New | 2780B MoE / 104B act | Q3_K_M | 1265.4 GB | 0.21 GB | 1266.2 GB | +1255.5 GB | ~0.4 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.8 2.4T-A95B New | 2446B MoE / 95B act | Q3_K_M | 1113.4 GB | 0.72 GB | 1114.7 GB | +1104.0 GB | ~0.4 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro 1.6T-A49B New | 1650B MoE / 49B act | Q3_K_M | 751.1 GB | 0.54 GB | 752.2 GB | +741.5 GB | ~0.8 | MLX | Why |
| Kimi K2.6 1T-A32B | 1027B MoE / 32B act | Q3_K_M | 467.5 GB | 0.54 GB | 468.6 GB | +457.9 GB | ~1.2 | MLX | Why |
| GLM-5.2 744B-A40B | 753B MoE / 40B act | Q3_K_M | 342.8 GB | 0.69 GB | 344.0 GB | +333.3 GB | ~1.0 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek-R1 671B | 671B MoE / 37B act | Q3_K_M | 305.4 GB | 0.54 GB | 306.6 GB | +295.9 GB | ~1.1 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | 403B MoE / 17B act | Q3_K_M | 183.4 GB | 0.23 GB | 184.3 GB | +173.6 GB | ~2.3 | MLX | Why |
| Ornith 1.5 397B-A17B New this week | 397B MoE / 17B act | Q3_K_M | 180.7 GB | 0.23 GB | 181.5 GB | +170.8 GB | ~2.3 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash 284B-A13B New | 284B MoE / 13B act | Q3_K_M | 129.3 GB | 0.38 GB | 130.3 GB | +119.6 GB | ~3.0 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3 235B-A22B | 235B MoE / 22B act | Q3_K_M | 107.0 GB | 1.47 GB | 109.0 GB | +98.3 GB | ~1.8 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.5 122B-A10B | 125B MoE / 10B act | Q3_K_M | 56.9 GB | 0.19 GB | 57.7 GB | +47.0 GB | ~3.9 | MLX | Why |
| Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B | 124B MoE / 12B act | Q3_K_M | 56.4 GB | 0.06 GB | 57.1 GB | +46.4 GB | ~3.2 | MLX | Why |
| Ling 3.0 Flash 124B-A5B New | 124B MoE / 5.1B act | Q3_K_M | 56.4 GB | 0.06 GB | 57.1 GB | +46.4 GB | ~7.6 | MLX | Why |
| Mistral Small 4 119B-A6B | 119B MoE / 6.5B act | Q3_K_M | 54.2 GB | 0.18 GB | 54.9 GB | +44.2 GB | ~6.0 | MLX | Why |
| gpt-oss 120B | 117B MoE / 5.1B act | MXFP4 | 60.5 GB | 0.29 GB | 61.4 GB | +50.7 GB | ~6.7 | MLX | Why |
| Llama 4 Scout 109B-A17B | 109B MoE / 17B act | Q3_K_M | 49.6 GB | 1.50 GB | 51.7 GB | +41.0 GB | ~2.3 | MLX | Why |
| Llama 3.3 70B Instruct | 70.6B | Q3_K_M | 32.1 GB | 2.50 GB | 35.2 GB | +24.5 GB | ~1.2 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama 70B | 70.6B | Q3_K_M | 32.1 GB | 2.50 GB | 35.2 GB | +24.5 GB | ~1.2 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | 35.9B MoE / 3.3B act | Q3_K_M | 16.3 GB | 0.16 GB | 17.1 GB | +6.4 GB | ~12 | MLX | Why |
| Ornith 1.5 35B-A3B New this week | 35.9B MoE / 3.3B act | Q3_K_M | 16.3 GB | 0.16 GB | 17.1 GB | +6.4 GB | ~12 | MLX | Why |
| LLM-jp 4 33B Thinking New this week | 33.2B | Q3_K_M | 15.1 GB | 2.00 GB | 17.7 GB | +7.0 GB | ~2.5 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3 32B | 32.8B | Q3_K_M | 14.9 GB | 2.00 GB | 17.5 GB | +6.8 GB | ~2.5 | MLX | Why |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 32B | 32.8B | Q3_K_M | 14.9 GB | 2.00 GB | 17.5 GB | +6.8 GB | ~2.5 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 32B | 32.8B | Q3_K_M | 14.9 GB | 2.00 GB | 17.5 GB | +6.8 GB | ~2.5 | MLX | Why |
| Olmo 3.1 32B Instruct | 32.2B | Q3_K_M | 14.7 GB | 1.25 GB | 16.5 GB | +5.8 GB | ~2.6 | MLX | Why |
| Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B New | 31.6B MoE / 3.2B act | Q3_K_M | 14.4 GB | 0.05 GB | 15.0 GB | +4.3 GB | ~12 | MLX | Why |
| Gemma 4 31B | 31.3B | Q3_K_M | 14.2 GB | 2.03 GB | 16.9 GB | +6.2 GB | ~2.7 | MLX | Why |
| GLM-4.7-Flash 30B-A3B | 31.2B MoE / 3B act | Q3_K_M | 14.2 GB | 0.41 GB | 15.2 GB | +4.5 GB | ~13 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3 30B-A3B | 30.5B MoE / 3.3B act | Q3_K_M | 13.9 GB | 0.75 GB | 15.2 GB | +4.5 GB | ~12 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B | 30.5B MoE / 3.3B act | Q3_K_M | 13.9 GB | 0.75 GB | 15.2 GB | +4.5 GB | ~12 | MLX | Why |
| Muse Glimmer 30B New | 29.8B | Q3_K_M | 13.6 GB | 0.18 GB | 14.3 GB | +3.6 GB | ~2.8 | MLX | Why |
| Granite 4.1 30B | 28.9B | Q3_K_M | 13.2 GB | 2.00 GB | 15.8 GB | +5.1 GB | ~2.9 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.8 27B New this week | 27.8B | Q3_K_M | 12.7 GB | 0.50 GB | 13.8 GB | +3.1 GB | ~3.0 | MLX | Why |
| Qwen3.6 27B | 27.8B | Q3_K_M | 12.7 GB | 0.50 GB | 13.8 GB | +3.1 GB | ~3.0 | MLX | Why |
| Gemma 3 27B | 27.4B | Q3_K_M | 12.5 GB | 1.03 GB | 14.1 GB | +3.4 GB | ~3.0 | MLX | Why |
| Gemma 4 26B-A4B | 26.5B MoE / 3.8B act | Q3_K_M | 12.1 GB | 0.51 GB | 13.2 GB | +2.5 GB | ~10 | MLX | Why |
| Devstral Small 2 24B | 24B | Q3_K_M | 10.9 GB | 1.25 GB | 12.8 GB | +2.1 GB | ~3.5 | MLX | Why |
| Mistral Small 3.2 24B | 23.6B | Q3_K_M | 10.7 GB | 1.25 GB | 12.6 GB | +1.9 GB | ~3.5 | MLX | Why |
| gpt-oss 20B | 20.9B MoE / 3.6B act | MXFP4 | 10.8 GB | 0.19 GB | 11.6 GB | +0.9 GB | ~9.5 | MLX | Why |
Totals = quantised weights + f16 KV cache at 8K tokens + 0.6 GB runtime overhead, against 10.7 GB usable unified memory. Tokens per second are estimated from 68 GB/s peak memory bandwidth at batch 1 — not measured. Read the method.