// model_catalog

12 models that run on Mortise

Curated the hard way: we ran 29 candidates through the same on-device tests and kept the 12 that earned a place.

Every one is quantized for Apple Silicon and runs fully on-device. Grouped by where it runs, then by family — memory figures are on-device peaks, weights are download size.

// how_this_was_measured

Measured in Mortise against 72 deterministic tasks spanning factual recall, arithmetic, code reading, logic, instruction-following and extraction. Models run as 4-bit MLX conversions (3-bit for some), under this app's prompts, sampling and memory limits.

Strongest
Handled the widest range of the suite's tasks in this app.
Strong
Dependable across most task types, with occasional misses.
Capable
Solid on everyday tasks; loses ground on the harder ones.
Limited
Struggled with much of the suite under this app's prompts and limits.
Not yet measured
Not run deeply enough for us to say anything. It is an absence of data, not a low standing.

This describes how each conversion behaves inside Mortise. It is not a general benchmark of the underlying model, and quantized conversions do not represent the full-precision weights their makers published.

iPhone & iPad

8 models

Models that fit within iOS's ~5 GB per-app memory budget. “Tight” models still run, but sit close to the limit on some devices.

Qwen 4

Qwen2.5 0.5B Instruct (4-bit)

Ultra-light chat and quick PDF Q&A; long answers cut off

Limited
RAM peak
1.5–2.3 GB
Weights
0.27 GB
Context
32,768 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
Alibaba (Qwen) Apache 2.0

Qwen3 0.6B (4-bit)

Fast reasoning, PDF Q&A, and doc lookup at a tiny size

Capable
RAM peak
1.5–2.3 GB
Weights
0.33 GB
Context
40,960 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
Reasoning
Alibaba (Qwen) Apache 2.0

Qwen3 1.7B (4-bit)

Reasoning plus accurate doc lookup in a light model

Strong
RAM peak
2.1–2.9 GB
Weights
0.92 GB
Context
40,960 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
Reasoning
Alibaba (Qwen) Apache 2.0

Qwen3 4B Instruct 2507 (4-bit)

Top all-rounder — reasoning, web search, PDF tools; passed every test

Strongest
RAM peak
3.3–4.1 GB
Weights
2.12 GB
Context
262,144 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
Reasoning Tools Web search Documents
Alibaba (Qwen) Apache 2.0

LFM (Liquid AI) 1

LFM2.5 1.2B Instruct (4-bit)

Fast, dependable chat and PDF/doc Q&A (Liquid AI)

Capable
RAM peak
1.8–2.6 GB
Weights
0.62 GB
Context
128,000 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB

SmolLM 1

SmolLM3 3B (4-bit)

Reasoning, PDFs, and doc lookup — passed every on-device test

Strongest
RAM peak
2.9–3.7 GB
Weights
1.67 GB
Context
65,536 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
Reasoning Tools Documents
Hugging Face Apache 2.0

Nemotron 1

Nemotron 3 Nano 4B (4-bit)

Reasoning, web search, and doc Q&A — near-perfect in tests

Capable
RAM peak
3.2–4.0 GB
Weights
2.24 GB
Context
262,144 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
Reasoning Tools Web search Documents

Ministral 1

Ministral 3 3B Instruct (4-bit)

Compact instruction-following chat and doc Q&A

Capable
RAM peak
3.8–4.6 GB
Weights
2.59 GB
Context
262,144 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
iOS: tight Tools Documents
Mistral AI Apache 2.0

Mac

12 models

Every catalog model runs on a Mac with enough memory — the card shows the minimum RAM each one needs.

Qwen 5

Qwen2.5 0.5B Instruct (4-bit)

Ultra-light chat and quick PDF Q&A; long answers cut off

Limited
RAM peak
1.5–2.3 GB
Weights
0.27 GB
Context
32,768 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
Alibaba (Qwen) Apache 2.0

Qwen3 0.6B (4-bit)

Fast reasoning, PDF Q&A, and doc lookup at a tiny size

Capable
RAM peak
1.5–2.3 GB
Weights
0.33 GB
Context
40,960 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
Reasoning
Alibaba (Qwen) Apache 2.0

Qwen3 1.7B (4-bit)

Reasoning plus accurate doc lookup in a light model

Strong
RAM peak
2.1–2.9 GB
Weights
0.92 GB
Context
40,960 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
Reasoning
Alibaba (Qwen) Apache 2.0

Qwen3 4B Instruct 2507 (4-bit)

Top all-rounder — reasoning, web search, PDF tools; passed every test

Strongest
RAM peak
3.3–4.1 GB
Weights
2.12 GB
Context
262,144 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
Reasoning Tools Web search Documents
Alibaba (Qwen) Apache 2.0

Qwen3 8B (4-bit)

Strongest reasoning in class — passed every on-device test

Strongest
RAM peak
5.5–6.3 GB
Weights
4.31 GB
Context
40,960 tok
Min Mac RAM
16 GB
Mac only Reasoning Tools Web search Documents
Alibaba (Qwen) Apache 2.0

LFM (Liquid AI) 1

LFM2.5 1.2B Instruct (4-bit)

Fast, dependable chat and PDF/doc Q&A (Liquid AI)

Capable
RAM peak
1.8–2.6 GB
Weights
0.62 GB
Context
128,000 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB

SmolLM 1

SmolLM3 3B (4-bit)

Reasoning, PDFs, and doc lookup — passed every on-device test

Strongest
RAM peak
2.9–3.7 GB
Weights
1.67 GB
Context
65,536 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
Reasoning Tools Documents
Hugging Face Apache 2.0

Nemotron 3

Nemotron 3 Nano 4B (4-bit)

Reasoning, web search, and doc Q&A — near-perfect in tests

Capable
RAM peak
3.2–4.0 GB
Weights
2.24 GB
Context
262,144 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
Reasoning Tools Web search Documents

Llama Nemotron 8B UltraLong 1M (4-bit)

Long-context reasoning, web search, and doc Q&A on Mac

Strong
RAM peak
5.5–6.3 GB
Weights
4.52 GB
Context
1,073,152 tok
Min Mac RAM
16 GB
Mac only Reasoning Tools Web search Documents

Nemotron Nano 9B v2 (4-bit)

Reasoning, web search, and docs — passed every on-device test

Strong
RAM peak
6.0–6.8 GB
Weights
5.0 GB
Context
131,072 tok
Min Mac RAM
16 GB
Mac only Reasoning Tools Web search Documents

Ministral 1

Ministral 3 3B Instruct (4-bit)

Compact instruction-following chat and doc Q&A

Capable
RAM peak
3.8–4.6 GB
Weights
2.59 GB
Context
262,144 tok
Min Mac RAM
8 GB
iOS: tight Tools Documents
Mistral AI Apache 2.0

Phi 1

Phi-4 (3-bit)

High-accuracy reasoning and math on Mac

Strongest
RAM peak
7.0–7.8 GB
Weights
5.98 GB
Context
16,384 tok
Min Mac RAM
16 GB
Mac only
Microsoft MIT

Standings describe how each conversion behaves inside Mortise — not a general benchmark of the underlying model. How this was measured

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