llmrun

Qwen3 14B vs Qwen3 8B

Qwen3 14B leads llmrun Score 97.9 to 93.8 (ranges overlap); both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M; Qwen3 8B is 1.7× faster on RTX 4090 (~119 vs ~69 tok/s).

Model A · Alibaba

Qwen3 14B
97.9llmrun Score

14.8B · 40K context · Apache 2.0 · Apr 2025

ChatFunctions

Model B · Alibaba

Qwen3 8B
93.8llmrun Score

8.2B · 40K context · Apache 2.0 · Apr 2025

ChatFunctions

Which should you choose?

Choose Qwen3 14B if you want…

  • Higher llmrun Score

    97.9 vs 93.8, ranges overlap

  • Stronger at reasoning

    87.8 vs 81.1

  • Stronger at science

    94.1 vs 87.7

  • Ahead on the benchmarks

    5 of 7 shared boards

Choose Qwen3 8B if you want…

  • Fits an 8 GB GPU

    Q4_K_M · 7.6 GB; Qwen3 14B needs 7.1 GB at its smallest quant

  • 1.7× faster on RTX 4090

    ~119 vs ~69 tok/s

  • Lighter on memory

    5.5 vs 9.5 GB at Q4_K_M

On your hardware

Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.

8 GB

RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier

Qwen3 14B

IQ2_M · ~32 tok/s

8 GB · up to 16K

Qwen3 8B

Q4_K_M · ~32 tok/s

7.6 GB · up to 16Kmore headroom

12 GB

RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier

Qwen3 14B

Q4_K_M · ~25 tok/s

11.9 GB · up to 16K

Qwen3 8B

Q4_K_M · ~42 tok/s

7.6 GB · up to 40Kfaster

16 GB

RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier

Qwen3 14B

Q4_K_M · ~31 tok/s

11.9 GB · up to 40K

Qwen3 8B

Q4_K_M · ~53 tok/s

7.6 GB · up to 40Kfaster

24 GBreference

RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier

Qwen3 14B

Q4_K_M · ~69 tok/s

11.9 GB · up to 40K

Qwen3 8B

Q4_K_M · ~119 tok/s

7.6 GB · up to 40Kfaster

32 GB

RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier

Qwen3 14B

Q4_K_M · ~123 tok/s

11.9 GB · up to 40K

Qwen3 8B

Q4_K_M · ~211 tok/s

7.6 GB · up to 40Kfaster

48 GB

RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier

Qwen3 14B

Q4_K_M · ~53 tok/s

11.9 GB · up to 40K

Qwen3 8B

Q4_K_M · ~90 tok/s

7.6 GB · up to 40Kfaster

Mac 32 GB

Mac Mini M4 · Macs

Qwen3 14B

Q4_K_M · ~9 tok/s

11.9 GB · up to 40K

Qwen3 8B

Q4_K_M · ~15 tok/s

7.6 GB · up to 40Kfaster

Mac 64 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Qwen3 14B

Q4_K_M · ~40 tok/s

11.9 GB · up to 40K

Qwen3 8B

Q4_K_M · ~69 tok/s

7.6 GB · up to 40Kfaster

Mac 128 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Qwen3 14B

Q4_K_M · ~40 tok/s

11.9 GB · up to 40K

Qwen3 8B

Q4_K_M · ~69 tok/s

7.6 GB · up to 40Kfaster

Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).

llmrun Score

with its 90% range · bars share one scale

Overall

Qwen3 14B

97.995–101

Qwen3 8B

93.891–97

Science

Qwen3 14B

94.187–101

Qwen3 8B

87.780–95

Reasoning

Qwen3 14B

87.879–97

Qwen3 8B

81.172–91

Qwen3 14B · #53 of 92 open models · #12 of 34 that fit 24 GB

Qwen3 8B · #62 of 92 open models · #18 of 34 that fit 24 GB

Benchmarks

7 shared boards: Qwen3 14B leads 5, Qwen3 8B leads 1 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026

GPQA Diamond

Qwen3 14B

63.8%#39/97 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2025

Qwen3 8B

56.8%#43/97 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2025

AIME 2024/2025

Qwen3 14B

66.4%#32/85 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2025

Qwen3 8B

56.1%#39/85 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2025

SciCode

Qwen3 14B

31.6%#51/65 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2025

Qwen3 8B

22.6%#60/65 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2025

Chess Puzzles

Qwen3 14B

4.0%#34/67 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2025

Qwen3 8B

5.0%#31/67 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2025

CritPt

Qwen3 14B

0.0%#61/65 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2025

Qwen3 8B

0.0%#63/65 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2025

DTBench

Qwen3 14B

64.0%#39/68 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2025

Qwen3 8B

59.7%#50/68 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2025

LMCA

Qwen3 14B

18.2%#35/54 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2025

Qwen3 8B

8.8%#49/54 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2025

1 more board (other shared and single-model boards)
Fiction.LiveBench

Qwen3 14B

62.5%#11/25 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2025

Qwen3 8B

62.1%#12/25 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2025

VRAM by quantization

Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.

Q2_K

Qwen3 14B

6.9 GB5.8 GB file

32K 11.9 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

4.1 GB3.3 GB file

32K 8.6 GB · 128K —

Q3_K_S

Qwen3 14B

7.1 GB6.7 GB file

32K 12.1 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

4.2 GB3.8 GB file

32K 8.7 GB · 128K —

Q3_K_M

Qwen3 14B

7.8 GB7.3 GB file

32K 12.9 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

4.6 GB4.1 GB file

32K 9.1 GB · 128K —

Q4_0

Qwen3 14B

8.0 GB8.5 GB file

32K 13.1 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

4.7 GB4.8 GB file

32K 9.2 GB · 128K —

Q4_K_M

Qwen3 14B

9.5 GB9.0 GB file

32K 14.5 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

5.5 GB5.0 GB file

32K 10.1 GB · 128K —

Q5_K_M

Qwen3 14B

11.2 GB10.5 GB file

32K 16.2 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

6.4 GB5.9 GB file

32K 11.0 GB · 128K —

Q6_K

Qwen3 14B

12.8 GB12.1 GB file

32K 17.9 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

7.4 GB6.7 GB file

32K 11.9 GB · 128K —

Q8_0

Qwen3 14B

15.4 GB15.7 GB file

32K 20.4 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

8.8 GB8.7 GB file

32K 13.3 GB · 128K —

19 more quants

IQ2_XXS

Qwen3 14B

4.7 GB4.5 GB file

32K 9.7 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

2.9 GB2.6 GB file

32K 7.4 GB · 128K —

IQ2_XS

Qwen3 14B

5.1 GB4.7 GB file

32K 10.1 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

3.1 GB2.7 GB file

32K 7.6 GB · 128K —

IQ2_S

Qwen3 14B

5.3 GB5.0 GB file

32K 10.3 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

3.2 GB2.9 GB file

32K 7.7 GB · 128K —

IQ2_M

Qwen3 14B

5.6 GB5.4 GB file

32K 10.7 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

3.4 GB3.1 GB file

32K 7.9 GB · 128K —

IQ3_XXS

Qwen3 14B

6.4 GB6.0 GB file

32K 11.4 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

3.8 GB3.4 GB file

32K 8.3 GB · 128K —

Q2_K_S

Qwen3 14B

6.5 GB5.4 GB file

32K 11.6 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

3.9 GB3.1 GB file

32K 8.4 GB · 128K —

IQ3_XS

Qwen3 14B

6.7 GB6.4 GB file

32K 11.8 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

4.0 GB3.6 GB file

32K 8.5 GB · 128K —

IQ3_S

Qwen3 14B

6.9 GB6.7 GB file

32K 11.9 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

4.1 GB3.8 GB file

32K 8.6 GB · 128K —

IQ3_M

Qwen3 14B

7.3 GB6.9 GB file

32K 12.3 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

4.3 GB3.9 GB file

32K 8.8 GB · 128K —

Q3_K_L

Qwen3 14B

8.2 GB7.9 GB file

32K 13.2 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

4.8 GB4.4 GB file

32K 9.3 GB · 128K —

IQ4_XS

Qwen3 14B

8.6 GB8.1 GB file

32K 13.6 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

5.0 GB4.6 GB file

32K 9.5 GB · 128K —

IQ4_NL

Qwen3 14B

8.9 GB8.5 GB file

32K 14.0 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

5.2 GB4.8 GB file

32K 9.7 GB · 128K —

Q4_1

Qwen3 14B

8.9 GB9.4 GB file

32K 14.0 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

5.2 GB5.2 GB file

32K 9.7 GB · 128K —

Q4_K_S

Qwen3 14B

8.9 GB8.6 GB file

32K 14.0 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

5.2 GB4.8 GB file

32K 9.7 GB · 128K —

Q4_K_L

Qwen3 14B

9.7 GB9.6 GB file

32K 14.7 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

5.6 GB5.5 GB file

32K 10.2 GB · 128K —

Q5_0

Qwen3 14B

9.9 GB10.3 GB file

32K 14.9 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

5.7 GB5.7 GB file

32K 10.3 GB · 128K —

Q5_K_S

Qwen3 14B

10.8 GB10.3 GB file

32K 15.8 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

6.2 GB5.7 GB file

32K 10.8 GB · 128K —

Q5_K_L

Qwen3 14B

11.3 GB11.0 GB file

32K 16.4 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

6.5 GB6.2 GB file

32K 11.1 GB · 128K —

BF16

Qwen3 14B

30.2 GB29.5 GB file

32K 35.2 GB · 128K —

Qwen3 8B

17.0 GB16.4 GB file

32K 21.5 GB · 128K —

How to run each

Specifications

Specifications of Qwen3 14B and Qwen3 8B
SpecQwen3 14BQwen3 8B
PublisherAlibabaAlibaba
Parameters14.8B8.2B
ArchitectureQwen3ForCausalLMQwen3ForCausalLM
Context40K tokens40K tokens
ModalitiesChat, Function-callingChat, Function-calling
LicenseApache 2.0Apache 2.0
ReleasedApr 2025Apr 2025

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Qwen3 14B or Qwen3 8B?

Qwen3 14B leads llmrun Score 97.9 to 93.8 (ranges overlap); both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M; Qwen3 8B is 1.7× faster on RTX 4090 (~119 vs ~69 tok/s). Choose Qwen3 14B for higher llmrun Score and stronger at reasoning; choose Qwen3 8B for fits an 8 GB GPU and 1.7× faster on RTX 4090.

Which needs less VRAM, Qwen3 14B or Qwen3 8B?

At Q4_K_M, Qwen3 14B requires 9.5 GB while Qwen3 8B needs 5.5 GB, making Qwen3 8B the easier model to run on your local setup.

Which is faster on RTX 4090?

Estimated decode speed on RTX 4090 is about 69 tok/s for Qwen3 14B (Q4_K_M) and 119 tok/s for Qwen3 8B (Q4_K_M), so Qwen3 8B is faster. Estimates, ±20%.

Can I run Qwen3 14B or Qwen3 8B on a 16 GB GPU?

Qwen3 14B fits at Q4_K_M; Qwen3 8B fits at Q4_K_M.

Which has a longer context window, Qwen3 14B or Qwen3 8B?

Qwen3 14B supports 40,960 tokens and Qwen3 8B supports 40,960 tokens.

Qwen3 14B vs Qwen3 8B — VRAM & GPU Comparison | llmrun