Canonical Rankings

Best Macs for this model

gpt-oss 20B ranked across the Mac lineup at the best practical quantization, using the best available runtime evidence. Model picker is focused on current-market choices.

Model

Quantization

Sort

Runtime

29 ranked MacsUse the strongest current runtime evidence for each row.28 historical models hiddenBaselinesStatic paths cover only canonical model pages; sort and quantization stay as query state.

Rank	Mac	Score	Quant	Tok/s	Runtime	Fits	Headroom	Context	Evidence	Price	Why it ranks here
1	Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB	286	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	235.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$7,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 235.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
2	Mac Pro M2 Ultra 192GB	222	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	171.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$6,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 171.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
3	Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB	158	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	107.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$4,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 107.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
4	MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB 16-inch	158	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	107.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$5,399	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 107.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
5	MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB 16-inch	158	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	107.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$5,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 107.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
6	Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB	126	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	75.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$3,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 75.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
7	Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB	94	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	43.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$2,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 43.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
8	MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB 16-inch	94	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	43.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$4,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 43.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
9	Mac Mini M4 Pro 48GB	78	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	27.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$1,599	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 27.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
10	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB 14-inch	78	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	27.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$2,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 27.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
11	Mac Studio M4 Max 48GB	78	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	27.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$2,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 27.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
12	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB 16-inch	78	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	27.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$2,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 27.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
13	MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 14-inch	78	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	27.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$3,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 27.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
14	MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 16-inch	78	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	27.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$3,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 27.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
15	Mac Studio M4 Max 36GB	66	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	15.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$1,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 15.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
16	MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 14-inch	66	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	15.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$2,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 15.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
17	MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 16-inch	66	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	15.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$3,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 15.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
18	Mac Mini M4 32GB	62	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	11.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$799	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 11.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
19	MacBook Air M4 32GB 13-inch	62	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	11.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$1,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 11.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
20	MacBook Air M4 32GB 15-inch	62	8bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	11.6 GB	131k	Fit-first	$1,699	8bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 11.6 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
21	Mac Mini M4 24GB	51	Q6_K	Measure it	MLX	Fits	7.1 GB	84k	Fit-first	$599	Q6_K is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 7.1 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
22	MacBook Air M4 24GB 13-inch	51	Q6_K	Measure it	MLX	Fits	7.1 GB	84k	Fit-first	$1,299	Q6_K is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 7.1 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
23	Mac Mini M4 Pro 24GB	51	Q6_K	Measure it	MLX	Fits	7.1 GB	84k	Fit-first	$1,399	Q6_K is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 7.1 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
24	MacBook Air M4 24GB 15-inch	51	Q6_K	Measure it	MLX	Fits	7.1 GB	84k	Fit-first	$1,499	Q6_K is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 7.1 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
25	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GB 14-inch	51	Q6_K	Measure it	MLX	Fits	7.1 GB	84k	Fit-first	$1,999	Q6_K is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 7.1 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
26	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GB 16-inch	51	Q6_K	Measure it	MLX	Fits	7.1 GB	84k	Fit-first	$2,499	Q6_K is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 7.1 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
27	Mac Mini M4 16GB	41	5bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	2.9 GB	19k	Fit-first	$499	5bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 2.9 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
28	MacBook Air M4 16GB 13-inch	41	5bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	2.9 GB	19k	Fit-first	$1,099	5bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 2.9 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
29	MacBook Air M4 16GB 15-inch	41	5bit	Measure it	MLX	Fits	2.9 GB	19k	Fit-first	$1,299	5bit is the current best practical quantization. This Mac fits, but speed still needs direct speed coverage. 2.9 GB headroom remains at this quantization.

gpt-oss 20B — ranking first, catalog record below

Start with the ranked Mac table above. Use the rest of this page to inspect raw Apple Silicon coverage and model metadata.

0Benchmark rows

0Chip tiers covered

—Fastest avg tok/s

—Minimum RAM observed

Quick take

gpt-oss 20B is cataloged because Apple Silicon buyers are already searching for it. gpt-oss 20B: 1 practitioner claim; 1 captured from fetched artifacts; hardware mentions: 64GB, MacBook, MacBook Pro; runtime mentions: MLX; themes: apple_silicon_viability, coding_quality, fit_and_memory, operational_caution, runtime_tuning. Use the ranking above for the current best Mac path, then open Bench when direct evidence lands.

1 practitioner signal tracked so far, no benchmarks yet.

Need the best Mac for this model? Use Buy Need a setup-first answer? Use Run Checking whether it fits? Use Fit Browse Macs by exact hardware Need the full audit trail? Use Bench Comparing against rented GPUs? Use AI Datacenter Index

Catalog record

21BTotal params

3.6BActive params

131,072Context window

2025-08-05Release date

No Apple Silicon benchmark rows are published for this model yet.

What this model is, and what Apple Silicon users are actually seeing

Official model cards tell you what the model is for and which software stacks it targets. Field reality below shows how much Apple Silicon evidence we have so far.

Official brief

Permissive Apache 2.0 license: Build freely without copyleft restrictions or patent risk—ideal for experimentation, customization, and commercial deployment. Configurable reasoning effort: Easily adjust the reasoning effort (low, medium, high) based on your specific use case and latency needs.

Official source · Raw model card

agentscodingreasoning

Official specs

Architecture: Mixture of experts.
Total parameters: 21B.
Active parameters: 3.6B.
Context: 131072 tokens.
Experts: 4 active / 32 total.
Quantization: MXFP4 MoE weights.

Official takeaways

Permissive Apache 2.0 license: Build freely without copyleft restrictions or patent risk—ideal for experimentation, customization, and commercial deployment.
Configurable reasoning effort: Easily adjust the reasoning effort (low, medium, high) based on your specific use case and latency needs.
MXFP4 quantization: The models were post-trained with MXFP4 quantization of the MoE weights, making gpt-oss-120b run on a single 80GB GPU (like NVIDIA H100 or AMD MI300X) and the gpt-oss-20b model run within 16GB of mem…

Official model cards describe intent, capabilities, and supported stacks. They do not prove Apple Silicon speed by themselves.

Field reality on Apple Silicon

gpt-oss 20B: 1 Apple Silicon field report; best reported generation ~39.6 tok/s; seen on MacBook Pro M5 PRO 64GB; via MLX.

0Benchmark rows

1Field reports

1Practitioner signals

No BenchmarksEvidence status

What practitioners keep saying

The HomeSec-Bench page reports GPT-OSS-20B MXFP4-Q8 on a MacBook Pro M5 Pro 64GB with MLX at about 39.6 tok/s generation and about 0.712s TTFT.
The same domain benchmark says the gpt-oss 20B row passed 67 of 96 tests for a 69.8% score, so use this as Apple Silicon fit and latency evidence rather than a quality-leading recommendation.

Apple Silicon field sources

SharpAI HomeSec-Bench
2026-03-26 · MacBook Pro M5 Pro 64GB · MLX
HomeSec-Bench gives gpt-oss 20B a concrete M5 Pro 64GB MLX row, but the domain score is weaker than the best local Gemma and Qwen rows from the same run.

Runtime mentions in the field

MLX

Hardware mentioned in reports

64GBMacBookMacBook Pro

What would improve confidence

Benchmark Current Apple Silicon Hot Model
Collect First Apple Silicon Benchmark
Reproduce Field Performance Signal
Upgrade To First Party Measurement

Current published coverage

This page stays published because the model is in the current frontier catalog, but Apple Silicon speed coverage is still missing.

Related gpt-oss models with published pages: gpt-oss 120B

Raw benchmark rows for gpt-oss 20B

Rows stay below the ranking because this page is answer-first. Use them to inspect exact chips, quantizations, runtimes, and sources.

No benchmark rows are published yet for this model. The ranking above still shows the best current Mac fit path, but the benchmark section stays empty until direct Apple Silicon measurements land.

Data

benchmarks.json — full dataset · models.json — model summaries · benchmarks.csv — CSV export

See all models →