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Can the Apple M3 Pro (18 GB) run Qwen3 Reranker 4B?

90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 87/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.

Yes, but slowly

Slow. At Q8_0 it needs about 6.1 GB of 12.1 GB usable and makes one decision in about 502 ms.

Best quant
Q8_0
Time per decision
502 ms
Decisions per second
2.0/s
Input assumed
512 tokens
Returns
Probability or score

Best app to run it on the Apple M3 Pro (18 GB)

On macOS

llama.cpp

Command line + local API · runs on llama.cpp

  • Serves the GGUF build behind a /v1/rerank endpoint with llama-server --rerank.
llama-server -hf mradermacher/Qwen3-Reranker-4B-GGUF:Q8_0 --rerank
  • Sentence Transformers A few lines of Python with Transformers or Sentence Transformers; easiest for scripts and notebooks.
  • Lemonade Serves the GGUF build behind a /v1/rerank endpoint with llama-server --rerank.

How we choose: the files published for this model, your operating system and GPU, whether it fits fully in memory, and published speed tests (MLX vs llama.cpp on Apple silicon, vLLM vs llama.cpp vs Ollama on NVIDIA). Details.

Download Qwen3 Reranker 4B

Recommended for the Apple M3 Pro (18 GB): Q8_0. Every other quantization has its own download link in the table below.

Quantized files · GGUF

Works in llama.cpp (llama-server --rerank), Lemonade and other llama.cpp servers with a rerank endpoint. No sign-in needed.

Download the Q8_0 file (opens in a new tab)

huggingface.co/mradermacher/Qwen3-Reranker-4B-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

llama-server -hf mradermacher/Qwen3-Reranker-4B-GGUF:Q8_0 --rerank

Original weights · Hugging Face

Full-precision files from Alibaba, for Transformers, Sentence Transformers, Text Embeddings Inference, Infinity or vLLM.

huggingface.co/Qwen/Qwen3-Reranker-4B (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

Links checked 3 days ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How it’s rated

Quality 90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 87/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.
How capable the model itself is at Q8_0, from its editorial quality tier scaled by the quantization or precision. It’s the same on any hardware that runs this variant. Scale: A+ 85+ · A 70+ · B 55+ · C 40+ · D under 40.
Runs Slow
How well it runs on the Apple M3 Pro (18 GB): speed, capped by how well it fits in memory. Runs great: 30+ tokens/s (or near the image, video or decision speed target) · Runs well: 10+ tokens/s · Slow: 3+ tokens/s · Very slow: under 3 · Won’t run: doesn’t fit even with offload. A tight fit or RAM offload caps it at Runs well; heavy offload caps it at Slow.

Match score

To order lists, each result also gets a match score out of 100 from four parts. It favors the most capable model that still runs well.

PrecisionEditorial precision tier from the model’s published benchmarks, scaled by the quantization or precision used.40.5 / 45
Memory fitFull marks when the model fits in the share of unified memory the GPU can use; fewer when it goes past that limit.25.0 / 25
SpeedTime for one decision against a 100 ms target: reading the input plus any tokens the model writes.6.7 / 15
ClarityHow easy the answer is to use in code: a probability or score earns the most, written feedback before a score the least.15.0 / 15
Match score87.2 / 100

The match score orders results; it is not shown as a grade. Quality and Runs are the two ratings in the tables.

Every quantization on the Apple M3 Pro (18 GB)

Quant Memory needed Available Speed Runs Quality Download
Q4_K_M 4.3 GB 12.1 GB 478 ms Slow 85Excellent quality (A+) · 85 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 85/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q5_K_M 4.7 GB 12.1 GB 483 ms Slow 87Excellent quality (A+) · 87 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 86/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q6_K 5.2 GB 12.1 GB 489 ms Slow 89Excellent quality (A+) · 89 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 86/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
Q8_0 6.1 GB 12.1 GB 502 ms Slow 90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 87/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab)
F16 9.9 GB 12.1 GB 561 ms Slow 90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 86/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. GGUF (opens in a new tab) Original weights (opens in a new tab)

Times are for one request with a 512-token input and about 1 tokens written. Batching servers process many requests at once.

Other hardware that runs it

Quick answers

How much memory does Qwen3 Reranker 4B need on the M3 Pro 18GB?

At Q8_0 it needs about 6.1 GB. The M3 Pro 18GB has 12.1 GB usable.

How fast is Qwen3 Reranker 4B on the M3 Pro 18GB?

It makes one decision in about 502 ms at Q8_0, an estimate from the hardware and the size of the model.

Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.

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