Hardware · Apple Silicon

What AI models can the Apple M3 Max (36 GB) run?

Unified memory: 36.0 GB
Usable for models: 24.1 GB
Memory bandwidth: 300 GB/s
FP16 compute: 12.3 TFLOPS
Released: 2023

463 / 621 LLMs run Best: Gemma 4 26B-A4B 58 / 61 Image models run Best: FLUX.2 [klein] 9B 31 / 43 Video models run Best: Bernini-R A14B (video generation + editing) 67 / 70 Decision models run Best: Jina Reranker v3.5

macOS lets the GPU use roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of unified memory by default, so we plan around that figure rather than the full 36.0 GB.

More about this hardware

Maker	Apple Silicon
Type	Apple silicon (system on a chip)
Chip	Apple M3 Max

Apps that run models well on the Apple M3 Max (36 GB)

macOS

For a typical model that fits in memory. Each model page picks the best app for that model on this hardware. All apps

2 products with the Apple M3 Max (36 GB)

MacBook Pro (14-inch, M3 Pro or M3 Max, Nov 2023)Apple · Laptop · 18, 36, 48, 64, 96 or 128 GB · $1,999–$3,699Product page (opens in a new tab)
MacBook Pro (16-inch, Nov 2023) (M3 Pro or M3 Max)Apple · Laptop · 18, 36, 48, 64, 96 or 128 GB · $2,499–$3,999Product page (opens in a new tab)

Best LLMs for the Apple M3 Max (36 GB)

Quality	Model	Quant	Memory	Speed	Runs
91Excellent quality (A+) · 91 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 95/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Gemma 4 26B-A4BGoogle	`Q6_K`	24.1 GB	47.9 tok/s	Runs welltight fit
87Excellent quality (A+) · 87 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 93/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Nex N2 Mini (35B-A3B)Nex-AGI	`Q4_K_M`	24.1 GB	78.0 tok/s	Runs welltight fit
86Excellent quality (A+) · 86 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 92/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	KAT-Coder V2.5 Dev (35B-A3B)Kuaishou	`Q4_K_M`	23.8 GB	78.0 tok/s	Runs welltight fit
83Great quality (A) · 83 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 92/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Raon-1 mini Preview (30B-A4B)KRAFTON	`Q4_K_M`	20.2 GB	59.1 tok/s	Runs great
83Great quality (A) · 83 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 91/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GLM-4.7 Flash (30B-A3B)Zhipu AI	`Q4_K_M`	22.0 GB	78.0 tok/s	Runs welltight fit
82Great quality (A) · 82 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 91/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Agents-A1 35B-A3BInternScience	`Q4_K_M`	24.1 GB	78.0 tok/s	Runs welltight fit
82Great quality (A) · 82 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 91/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Qwen AgentWorld 35B-A3BAlibaba	`Q4_K_M`	23.8 GB	78.0 tok/s	Runs welltight fit
78Great quality (A) · 78 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 90/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Qwen3.6 35B-A3BAlibaba	`Q3_K_M`	20.3 GB	94.7 tok/s	Runs great
80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 90/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Hunyuan Hy-Memory 30B-A3BTencent	`Q4_K_M`	21.7 GB	78.0 tok/s	Runs welltight fit
78Great quality (A) · 78 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 90/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	MiniCPM-V 4.7 35B-A3BOpenBMB	`Q3_K_M`	20.0 GB	94.7 tok/s	Runs great
78Great quality (A) · 78 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 90/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Qwen3.5 35B-A3BAlibaba	`Q3_K_M`	20.3 GB	94.7 tok/s	Runs great
76Great quality (A) · 76 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 89/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Sage-A1.5 35B-A3BInternScience	`Q3_K_M`	20.3 GB	94.7 tok/s	Runs great

Best Image models for the Apple M3 Max (36 GB)

Quality	Model	Quant	Memory	Speed	Runs
82Great quality (A) · 82 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 90/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	FLUX.2 [klein] 9BBlack Forest Labs	`FP8`	19.9 GB	13 s	Runs great
78Great quality (A) · 78 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 90/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	FLUX.2 [klein] 4BBlack Forest Labs	`FP16`	18.1 GB	7.9 s	Runs great
90Excellent quality (A+) · 90 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 89/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Krea 2 TurboKrea	`FP8`	20.2 GB	31 s	Runs well
83Great quality (A) · 83 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 86/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	ERNIE-Image TurboBaidu	`FP8`	14.5 GB	23 s	Runs well
82Great quality (A) · 82 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 85/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Z-Image TurboAlibaba (Tongyi)	`FP8`	12.6 GB	18 s	Runs well
89Excellent quality (A+) · 89 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 84/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	FLUX 3 Image KleinBlack Forest Labs	`FP8`	12.4 GB	41 s	Slow

Best Video models for the Apple M3 Max (36 GB)

Quality	Model	Quant	Memory	Speed	Runs
83Great quality (A) · 83 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Bernini-R A14B (video generation + editing)ByteDance	`FP8`	20.3 GB	89.9 min	Very slowencoder unloaded after use
86Excellent quality (A+) · 86 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 72/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	LTX-2.5 (22B, video + audio)Lightricks	`FP8`	19.7 GB	14.1 min	SlowCPU offload
49Fair quality (C) · 49 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 72/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	LTX-Video 2BLightricks	`FP8`	10.8 GB	3.0 min	Runs great
70Great quality (A) · 70 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4 GGUF, whatever it runs on. Match score 71/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Wan 2.2 S2V 14B (speech to video)Alibaba	`Q4 GGUF`	21.6 GB	2.6 h	Very slowtight fit
74Great quality (A) · 74 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 71/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	HY-OmniWeaving (8.3B, unified video)Tencent	`FP8`	15.7 GB	66.2 min	Very slowencoder unloaded after use

Best Decision models for the Apple M3 Max (36 GB)

Quality	Model	Quant	Memory	Speed	Runs
86Excellent quality (A+) · 86 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 93/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Jina Reranker v3.5Jina AI	`F16`	4.0 GB	52 ms	Runs great
84Great quality (A) · 84 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 92/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Jina Reranker v3Jina AI	`F16`	4.0 GB	52 ms	Runs great
80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 91/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	FRIDA-DecisionsSber AI	`F16`	2.4 GB	38 ms	Runs great
80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 91/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GLiNER2.5 DecideFastino	`F16`	1.7 GB	25 ms	Runs great
80Great quality (A) · 80 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 91/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Qwen3 Reranker 0.6BAlibaba	`F16`	4.0 GB	52 ms	Runs great
82Great quality (A) · 82 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 90/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	mxbai-rerank-large v2Mixedbread	`Q8_0`	4.2 GB	117 ms	Runs great
82Great quality (A) · 82 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 90/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	d1 3BLiquid AI	`Q8_0`	5.9 GB	128 ms	Runs great
76Great quality (A) · 76 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 89/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Llama Prompt Guard 2 86MMeta	`F16`	1.2 GB	27 ms	Runs great

Best LLMs by task on this hardware Open in Model Finder

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.