Run Gemma 3 4B on M4 Pro

Yes — Gemma 3 4B (4B) runs at 95 tok/s on M4 Pro with 24 GB RAM using Q8_0 quantization via MLX. First token latency is 0.3s. Google's previous-gen 4B dense model, solid balance of speed and quality.

Speed

tok/s

First Token

0.3

seconds

RAM Needed

GB minimum

Engine

MLX

recommended

Benchmark Details

LLMCheck measured Gemma 3 4B on M4 Pro using the standard methodology: Q4_K_M quantization, 256-token input, 512-token output, 3 runs averaged on a freshly-booted system.

Metric	Value
Tokens per second	95 tok/s
Time to first token	0.3s
Quantization	Q8_0
Minimum RAM	24 GB
Recommended engine	MLX
Parameters	4B
Benchmark date	2026-02

Q8_0 4B MLX M4 Pro

Setup Guide: Run Gemma 3 4B on M4 Pro

The recommended engine for Gemma 3 4B on M4 Pro is MLX. Install with pip and pull the model:

pip install mlx-lm

mlx_lm.generate --model mlx-community/gemma-3-4b-q8_0 --prompt "Hello!"

Alternatively, you can use Ollama for a simpler setup:

ollama run gemma3:4b

Performance on Other Apple Silicon Chips

Chip	Speed	First Token	Min RAM	Engine
M5 Max	132 tok/s	0.3s	64 GB	Ollama
M3 Pro	88 tok/s	0.4s	18 GB	MLX
M1	48 tok/s	0.8s	8 GB	Ollama

System Requirements

To run Gemma 3 4B on M4 Pro you need:

• Mac with M4 Pro chip (or newer)
• 24 GB unified memory minimum
• macOS 13 Ventura or later
• ~20-24 GB free disk space for the model file
• MLX installed (see our Ollama install guide)

Compare More Models

See how Gemma 3 4B stacks up against other models on your specific Mac hardware.

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