What Can the Apple M5 Run?
16 GB · compatibility with 168 AI models
Short answer: the Apple M5 (16 GB) can run 165 of 168 AI image, video, 3D and audio models we track. Unified memory, GPU neural accelerators.
| Perfect | Great | Good | Usable | Barely | Can't Run |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 models | 0 models | 0 models | 36 models | 82 models | 37 models |
Apple M5 specs for AI
| Brand | Apple |
|---|---|
| Series | M5 |
| VRAM | 16 GB |
| Architecture | m5 |
| FP16 compute | 4.2 TFLOPS |
| Memory bandwidth | 153 GB/s |
| Released | 2025 |
AI models on the Apple M5
Each model uses the best format that fits in 16 GB. How ratings work.
Text to Image
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stable Diffusion 1.5 | Usable | FP16 | 4 GB | Moderate |
| Stable Diffusion 1.4 | Usable | FP16 | 4 GB | Moderate |
| Stable Diffusion 2.1 | Usable | FP16 | 5 GB | Moderate |
| Stable Diffusion 2.0 | Usable | FP16 | 5 GB | Moderate |
| PixArt-Alpha 600M | Usable | FP16 | 6 GB | Moderate |
| SDXL Base 1.0 | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| SDXL Turbo | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| Animagine XL 3.1 | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| Pony Diffusion v6 XL | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| NoobAI XL | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| Juggernaut XL Ragnarok | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| SDXL Lightning 4-step | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| DreamShaper XL | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| Illustrious XL v1.0 | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| Playground v2.5 2.6B | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| RealVisXL v5.0 | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| Epicrealism XL | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| PixArt-Sigma 900M | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| Stable Diffusion 3 Medium (2B) | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| SDXL Hyper 1-step | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium (2.5B) | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| HunyuanDiT 1.5B | Barely | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| Z-Image Turbo | Barely | FP16 | 10 GB | Slow |
| FLUX.2 Klein 9B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 5 GB | Slow |
| Chroma1 HD | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 5 GB | Slow |
| Ideogram 4.0 | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 6 GB | Slow |
| MOSS-Image 5B | Barely | FP16 | 12 GB | Slow |
| Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large (8B) | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 7 GB | Slow |
| Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large Turbo | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 7 GB | Slow |
| FLUX.1 Krea Dev | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 7 GB | Slow |
| Flux.1 Lite | Barely | FP16 | 12 GB | Slow |
| AuraFlow 0.3 | Barely | FP16 | 12 GB | Slow |
| Krea 2 Turbo | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| Flux.1 Dev 12B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| Flux.1 Schnell 12B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| HunyuanImage 3.0 | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| Flux.2 Klein 4B | Barely | FP16 | 13 GB | Slow |
| Qwen-Image 2.1 | Can't Run | FP16 | 14 GB | Slow |
| Z-Image Base | Can't Run | FP16 | 14 GB | Slow |
| Ming-Image 0.1 Design | Can't Run | FP16 | 14 GB | Slow |
| Kolors | Can't Run | FP16 | 14 GB | Slow |
| Qwen-Image 2512 (20B) | Can't Run | GGUF Q4 | 12 GB | Slow |
| Flux.2 Dev 32B | Can't Run | GGUF Q3 | 14 GB | Very Slow |
| ERNIE-Image 8B | Can't Run | FP16 | 16 GB | Slow |
| HiDream-O1-Image 8.8B | Can't Run | FP16 | 16 GB | Slow |
| Seedream 3.0 | Can't Run | FP16 | 16 GB | Slow |
| GLM-Image | Can't Run | FP16 | 16 GB | Slow |
Image to Image
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD 1.5 img2img | Usable | FP16 | 4 GB | Moderate |
| InstructPix2Pix | Usable | FP16 | 5 GB | Moderate |
| SDXL img2img | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| IP-Adapter SDXL | Barely | FP16 | 9 GB | Moderate |
| IP-Adapter FaceID SDXL | Barely | FP16 | 10 GB | Slow |
| Mage-Flow 4B | Barely | FP16 | 10 GB | Slow |
| Boogu-Image Edit | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 6 GB | Slow |
| Flux.1 Dev img2img 12B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| Flux Kontext Dev | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| Qwen-Image-Edit 2511 | Can't Run | GGUF Q4 | 12 GB | Slow |
| LongCat-Image Edit | Can't Run | FP16 | 15 GB | Slow |
Inpainting
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD 1.5 Inpainting | Usable | FP16 | 4 GB | Moderate |
| SDXL Inpainting | Usable | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| PowerPaint v2.1 | Barely | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| BrushNet | Barely | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| Flux.1 Fill Dev | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
ControlNet
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ControlNet SD 1.5 | Usable | FP16 | 5 GB | Moderate |
| T2I-Adapter SDXL | Barely | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| ControlNet SDXL | Barely | FP16 | 9 GB | Moderate |
| ControlNet Flux | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 10 GB | Slow |
Video
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WAN 2.1 T2V 1.3B | Barely | FP16 | 6 GB | Moderate |
| AnimateDiff Lightning | Barely | FP16 | 6 GB | Moderate |
| AnimateDiff v3 (SD 1.5) | Barely | FP16 | 6 GB | Moderate |
| ZeroScope v2 576w | Barely | FP16 | 6 GB | Moderate |
| AnimateDiff V2V | Barely | FP16 | 6 GB | Moderate |
| AnimateDiff I2V | Barely | FP16 | 6 GB | Moderate |
| Stable Video Diffusion 1.1 | Barely | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| CogVideoX 2B | Barely | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| ModelScope T2V | Barely | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| TokenFlow | Barely | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| Latte | Barely | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| SEINE | Barely | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| Kandinsky 6.0 Video Lite 3B | Barely | FP16 | 9 GB | Moderate |
| LTX-Video 0.9 (2B) | Barely | FP16 | 10 GB | Slow |
| LTX-Video I2V | Barely | FP16 | 10 GB | Slow |
| Stable Video Diffusion XT 1.1 (25 frames) | Barely | FP16 | 10 GB | Slow |
| DynamiCrafter 512 | Barely | FP16 | 10 GB | Slow |
| WAN 2.2 TI2V 5B | Barely | FP16 | 12 GB | Slow |
| AnimateDiff SDXL | Barely | FP16 | 12 GB | Slow |
| Waver 1.0 | Barely | FP16 | 12 GB | Slow |
| WAN 2.2 T2V A14B (MoE) | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| WAN 2.2 I2V A14B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| WAN 2.1 T2V 14B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| WAN 2.1 I2V 480P 14B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| WAN 2.1 V2V | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| HunyuanVideo T2V v1.5 | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| HunyuanVideo I2V v1.5 | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| HunyuanVideo 13B T2V | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| HunyuanVideo I2V | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 8 GB | Slow |
| SkyReels V3 R2V 14B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 9 GB | Slow |
| Wan 2.2 S2V 14B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 10 GB | Slow |
| WAN 2.1 I2V 720P 14B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 10 GB | Slow |
| Wan-Animate-2 14B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 10 GB | Slow |
| SCAIL-2 14B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 10 GB | Slow |
| Wan-Dancer 14B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 10 GB | Slow |
| HuMo 17B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 10 GB | Slow |
| CogVideoX 5B | Can't Run | FP16 | 14 GB | Slow |
| CogVideoX 5B I2V | Can't Run | FP16 | 14 GB | Slow |
| SkyReels V1 | Can't Run | FP16 | 14 GB | Slow |
| SkyReels V1 I2V | Can't Run | FP16 | 14 GB | Slow |
| Wan 2.2 Animate 14B | Can't Run | GGUF Q4 | 11 GB | Slow |
| LTX-2 19B | Can't Run | GGUF Q4 | 11 GB | Slow |
| MiniMax H3 FL2VA | Can't Run | GGUF Q4 | 12 GB | Slow |
| MiniMax H3 Ref2VA | Can't Run | GGUF Q4 | 12 GB | Slow |
| Ovi 1.1 | Can't Run | Offload | 5 GB | Very Slow |
| LongCat-Video 13.6B | Can't Run | Offload | 6 GB | Very Slow |
| LTX-2.5 22B | Can't Run | GGUF Q4 | 13 GB | Slow |
| LTX-2.3 22B | Can't Run | GGUF Q4 | 13 GB | Slow |
| FramePack I2V HY FP8 | Can't Run | Offload | 8 GB | Very Slow |
| LTX-Video 13B | Can't Run | Offload | 12 GB | Very Slow |
| Open-Sora 2.0 (11B) | Can't Run | Offload | 12 GB | Very Slow |
| MAGI-1 | Can't Run | Offload | 12 GB | Very Slow |
| DynamiCrafter 1024 | Can't Run | Offload | 12 GB | Very Slow |
| Mochi 1 10B | Can't Run | Offload | 16 GB | Very Slow |
| MOVA | Can't Run | — | needs 29 GB | — |
Upscaler
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4x-UltraSharp | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| 4x-Remacri | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| SwinIR | Perfect | FP32 | 0.5 GB | Fast |
| RealESRGAN x4plus | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| HAT | Perfect | FP32 | 0.5 GB | Fast |
| DAT | Perfect | FP32 | 0.5 GB | Fast |
| ScuNET | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| LDSR | Usable | FP16 | 4 GB | Moderate |
| SeedVR2 3B | Barely | FP16 | 9 GB | Moderate |
| SeedVR2 7B | Can't Run | FP16 | 16 GB | Slow |
Face/Restore
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GFPGAN v1.4 | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| CodeFormer v0.1 | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
VAE
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD 1.5 VAE ft-mse | Perfect | FP32 | 0.2 GB | Fast |
| Flux VAE | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| SDXL VAE | Perfect | FP32 | 0.3 GB | Fast |
| TAESD / TAESDXL | Perfect | FP32 | 0.1 GB | Fast |
3D
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TripoSR | Usable | FP16 | 4 GB | Moderate |
| Shap-E | Usable | FP16 | 4 GB | Moderate |
| InstantMesh | Barely | FP16 | 6 GB | Moderate |
| Zero123++ v1.2 | Barely | FP16 | 6 GB | Moderate |
| LGM | Barely | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| One-2-3-45 | Barely | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| Hunyuan3D 2.1 | Barely | FP16 | 10 GB | Slow |
| SV3D | Barely | FP16 | 10 GB | Slow |
| Hunyuan3D 2.0 | Barely | FP16 | 12 GB | Slow |
| Pixal3D | Can't Run | FP16 | 14 GB | Slow |
| TRELLIS.2 4B | Can't Run | — | needs 12 GB | — |
| SAM 3D Objects | Can't Run | — | needs 32 GB | — |
Audio
| Model | Rating | Runs as | VRAM used | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MusicGen Small (300M) | Usable | FP16 | 2 GB | Moderate |
| XTTS v2 | Usable | FP16 | 3 GB | Moderate |
| Whisper Large v3 | Usable | FP16 | 4 GB | Moderate |
| Stable Audio Open | Usable | FP16 | 4 GB | Moderate |
| MusicGen Medium (1.5B) | Usable | FP16 | 6 GB | Moderate |
| Bark | Usable | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| Stable Audio 3 Small-SFX | Barely | FP16 | 3 GB | Moderate |
| Chatterbox Multilingual | Barely | FP16 | 4 GB | Moderate |
| MMAudio Large 44k | Barely | FP16 | 4 GB | Moderate |
| Qwen3-TTS 1.7B | Barely | FP16 | 5 GB | Moderate |
| IndexTTS 2.5 | Barely | FP16 | 6 GB | Moderate |
| VibeVoice 1.5B | Barely | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| Stable Audio 3 Medium | Barely | FP16 | 7 GB | Moderate |
| ACE-Step 1.5 Turbo | Barely | FP16 | 8 GB | Moderate |
| MusicGen Large (3.3B) | Barely | FP16 | 12 GB | Slow |
| Fish Audio S2 Pro 4B | Barely | GGUF Q4 | 7 GB | Slow |
| YuE2 3B | Can't Run | Offload | 8 GB | Very Slow |
| MiniMax Music 3 | Can't Run | Offload | 8 GB | Very Slow |
Frequently asked questions
How much VRAM does the Apple M5 have?
The Apple M5 has 16 GB of unified memory (shared with the CPU) with 153 GB/s of memory bandwidth.
What AI models can the Apple M5 run?
It can run 165 of the 168 AI models we track: 13 perfectly (S), 0 great (A), 0 good (B), 36 usable (C) and 82 barely (D). 37 need more VRAM than it has.
Can the Apple M5 run MiniMax H3 FL2VA?
Yes, in GGUF Q4 (rating F, can't run).
Can the Apple M5 run MiniMax H3 Ref2VA?
Yes, in GGUF Q4 (rating F, can't run).
Can the Apple M5 run Qwen-Image 2.1?
Yes, in FP16 (rating F, can't run).
Can the Apple M5 run Z-Image Turbo?
Yes, in FP16 (rating D, barely).