Qwen 3 30B-A3B runs at 90 tok/s on a 128 GB M4 Max, a published figure reported by arxiv.org (llama.cpp, 4-bit). It needs about 18 GB of unified memory. It is Alibaba's 30B mixture-of-experts model (3B active), released under the Apache 2.0 licence.
Want to run Qwen 3 30B-A3B faster — or step up to bigger models? Find your Mac →This is a published figure: a real run, reported by its source and linked below. The index records it as given and never adjusts it.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Tokens per second | sourced90 tok/s |
| Provenance | published figure · arxiv.org |
| Quantization | 4-bit |
| Engine | llama.cpp |
| Figure dated | 2026-01 |
| Minimum RAM | 18 GB |
| Parameters | 30B MoE (3B active) |
| Chip bandwidth | 546 GB/s |
Each row as the index holds it, with its source. “Mac RAM” is the memory of the Mac a run used, not the model’s requirement (18 GB). The headline figure follows the reference rule: the lower-median measured plain-decode run at 5 bits or fewer (a run whose quant was not stated counts only when no stated-quant run qualifies), else the estimate; a run marked “not used to anchor estimates” is listed here but never becomes the headline.
| Speed | Quant | Engine | Mac RAM | Context | Source | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sourced110 tok/s | 4-bit | MLX | 128 GB | — | arxiv.org | vllm-mlx serving on MLX (paper's figure 109.7); the paper's plain mlx-lm run is 107.4 tok/s. |
| sourced90 tok/s | 4-bit | llama.cpp | 128 GB | — | arxiv.org | — |
Ollama — install it (brew install ollama or the app from ollama.com), then pull the model by its tag, checked on ollama.com on 2026-10-17:
MLX — pick a build from Hugging Face’s MLX listings, then run it with its repo id:
Downloads: Search the Ollama library → · model card →
The 90 tok/s figure above came from llama.cpp at 4-bit; other runtimes and quants run at different speeds.
Prefer a GUI? LM Studio downloads GGUF and MLX builds in one click. Step by step: install Ollama on a Mac.
Alibaba's Apache 2.0 30B MoE with 3B active. It fits a 24 GB Mac at 4-bit; tbreak's reviews measured 130.6 tok/s on an M5 Max and 62.0 on a Mac mini M6 (MLX, quantization not stated).
Apache 2.0 licence · 30B MoE · 128K context · LLMCheck capability 22/50 · see its leaderboard rank →
Qwen 3 30B-A3B needs about 18 GB of unified memory. These current Apple Silicon Macs have the headroom to run it comfortably:
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