Text model · SmolLM3
SmolLM3 3B requirements
SmolLM3 family · 3B params · released Jul 2025. Minimum to run at Q4_K_M: Apple M1 (8GB).
Quantization sizes
| Quantization | Size on disk |
|---|---|
| Q2_K | 1.3 GB est |
| Q3_K_M | 1.5 GB est |
| Q4_K_M (default) | 1.78 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 2.1 GB est |
| Q6_K | 2.5 GB est |
| Q8_0 | 3.05 GB |
| FP16 | 6 GB est |
Lower quant = smaller and faster, slightly lower quality. Q4_K_M is the common default.
Run it
llama-cli -hf unsloth/SmolLM3-3B-GGUF:Q4_K_M lms get unsloth/SmolLM3-3B-GGUF Which devices can run SmolLM3 3B?
Apple Silicon Macs
RAM-only laptops
iPhone & iPad
Android
NVIDIA GPUs
AMD GPUs
FAQ
How much VRAM or RAM does SmolLM3 3B need?
At Q4_K_M, SmolLM3 3B needs about 3 GB (weights ~1.78 GB + KV cache + overhead) at a 4k context. At Q8_0 budget ~4.3 GB.
Can SmolLM3 3B run on a laptop?
Yes, SmolLM3 3B fits on a 16 GB machine at Q4_K_M and runs on Apple Silicon or a 12 GB+ GPU comfortably.
Can I use SmolLM3 3B commercially?
Yes. SmolLM3 3B is licensed Apache-2.0, which permits commercial use.
Hugging Face SmolLM3 3B, long-context small model. Q4_K_M and Q8_0 sizes from the unsloth GGUF repo.
Sources
Memory figures are estimates. See methodology.