image model · flux · macOS
FX Can I run FLUX.1 schnell on Apple M3 Pro (18GB)?
Yes. FLUX.1 schnell runs on Apple M3 Pro (18GB) at Q4 GGUF (~6.5 GB of ~12 GB usable).
Runs at Q4 GGUF using ~6.5 GB of ~12 GB usable.
- Peak VRAM
- ~6.5 GB
- Usable on device
- ~12 GB
- Device memory
- 18 GB
- Quant
- Q4 GGUF
How to run it
Use ComfyUI or Draw Things at Q4 GGUF. The big text encoder is loaded to encode your prompt, then offloaded before generation, which is why peak VRAM stays near the backbone size rather than the sum of every file.
- Type
- image (DIT)
- Parameters
- 12B
- Peak VRAM
- ~6.5 GB at Q4 GGUF
- Resolution
- 1024×1024
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Memory
- 18 GB unified
- Usable for weights
- ~12 GB
- Best runtime
- Ollama (llama.cpp Metal backend) / MLX
You could also run
Run FLUX.1 schnell on other hardware
FAQ
Can Apple M3 Pro (18GB) run FLUX.1 schnell?
Yes. FLUX.1 schnell runs on Apple M3 Pro (18GB) at Q4 GGUF (~6.5 GB of ~12 GB usable).
How much VRAM does FLUX.1 schnell need?
Apple M3 Pro (18GB) has room to spare. At Q4 GGUF the realistic peak is ~6.5 GB of VRAM, versus ~33 GB with every component kept resident (no offload). With aggressive CPU offload it drops to ~3 GB, much slower.
What do I use to run FLUX.1 schnell locally?
FLUX.1 schnell runs in ComfyUI or Draw Things (among others). It loads as a diffusion checkpoint plus its text encoder and VAE, not a single chat command.
Sources
VRAM figures are sourced peak-usage anchors at the noted quant, validated 2026-06-15. See methodology.