01
Gemma 4 26B-A4B
Gemma / 26B / Q4_K_M / ~16 GB
Best for: Chat, Coding, Multimodal·Perf: ~66.6 tok/s · first token ~0.6s
Best for chat, coding, multimodal. Strong fit for 32 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.
$ollama run gemma4:26b
Best Local LLMs for 32GB RAM
Ranked open-weight models that run well on a 32GB machine, with estimated speed and the exact ollama command for each.
Try: RTX 4090, MacBook Pro M4, 16GB, iPhone 17 Pro
Best local models for ~32GB
12 picksEstimates assume a representative Apple-Silicon machine with 32GB unified memory. Tok/s are ModelFit estimates, not measured benchmarks. Run the wizard for figures tuned to your exact chip.
Runs well
02
Qwen3.5 27B Instruct
Qwen / 27B / Q4_K_M / ~16 GB
Best for: Chat, Coding, Complex reasoning·Perf: ~25.1 tok/s · first token ~0.8s
Best for chat, coding, complex reasoning. Strong fit for 32 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.
$ollama run qwen3.5:27b
03
Qwen3.6 27B
Qwen / 27B / Q4_K_M / ~18 GB
Best for: Coding, Quality, Long context·Perf: ~25.1 tok/s · first token ~0.8s
This model may feel memory-heavy on 32 GB RAM, but it is still listed for balanced speed and quality.
$ollama run qwen3.6:27b
04
GPT-OSS 20B
GPT-OSS / 21B / MXFP4 / ~13.8 GB
Best for: Chat, Coding, Reasoning·Perf: ~82.4 tok/s · first token ~0.6s
Best for chat, coding, reasoning. Strong fit for 32 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.
$ollama run gpt-oss:20b
05
LFM2 24B-A2B Instruct
LFM2 / 24B / Q4_K_M / ~14 GB
Best for: Local AI agents, privacy-first tool calling, MCP workflows·Perf: ~98 tok/s · first token ~0.6s
Best for local ai agents, privacy-first tool calling, mcp workflows. Strong fit for 32 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.
$ollama run lfm2:24b-a2b
06
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B
Qwen / 35B / Q4_K_M / ~22 GB
Best for: Reasoning, Coding, Agents·Perf: ~60.7 tok/s · first token ~1.4s
This model may feel memory-heavy on 32 GB RAM, but it is still listed for balanced speed and quality.
$ollama run qwen3.6:35b-a3b
07
Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Instruct
Qwen / 35B / Q4_K_M / ~20 GB
Best for: Reasoning, Coding, Agent scenarios·Perf: ~66.3 tok/s · first token ~1.4s
This model may feel memory-heavy on 32 GB RAM, but it is still listed for balanced speed and quality.
$ollama run qwen3.5:35b-a3b
08
Qwen3.5 9B Instruct
Qwen / 9B / Q4_K_M / ~7 GB
Best for: Quality, Coding, Reasoning·Perf: ~75.4 tok/s · first token ~0.6s
Best for quality, coding, reasoning. Strong fit for 32 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.
$ollama run qwen3.5:9b
09
Gemma 4 12B (Q8)
Gemma / 12B / Q8_0 / ~12.8 GB
Best for: Chat, Coding, Multimodal·Perf: ~31 tok/s · first token ~0.8s
Best for chat, coding, multimodal. Strong fit for 32 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.
$ollama run gemma4:12b-it-q8_0
10
Qwen3 30B
Qwen / 30B / Q4_K_M / ~22 GB
Best for: Quality, Coding·Perf: ~65.6 tok/s · first token ~1.4s
This model may feel memory-heavy on 32 GB RAM, but it is still listed for balanced speed and quality.
$ollama run qwen3:30b
11
Phi-4 14B
Phi / 14B / Q4_K_M / ~11.5 GB
Best for: Coding, Quality·Perf: ~48.5 tok/s · first token ~0.7s
Best for coding, quality. Strong fit for 32 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.
$ollama run phi4:14b-q4_K_M
12
Mistral Small 3.1
Mistral / 24B / Q4_K_M / ~15 GB
Best for: Chat, Coding·Perf: ~28.3 tok/s · first token ~0.8s
Best for chat, coding. Strong fit for 32 GB RAM with balanced speed and quality.
$ollama run mistral-small3.1:24b
Want an exact recommendation?
The wizard tunes picks and speed estimates to your exact device, chip, and RAM.