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Command-R 35B vs Qwen3 32B

Side-by-side VRAM requirements, benchmark scores, and GPU compatibility for local AI inference.

Quick verdict

Qwen3 32B is more hardware-efficient: it needs 23.9 GB at its Q4_K_M build vs 35.9 GB for Command-R 35B's Q4_K_M, fitting on 74 GPUs natively.

VRAM at each quantization (8k context)

FP32
Command-R 35B
168.8 GB
Qwen3 32B
148.4 GB
BF16
Command-R 35B
90.4 GB
Qwen3 32B
75.0 GB
FP16
Command-R 35B
90.4 GB
Qwen3 32B
75.0 GB
Q8_0
Command-R 35B
53.7 GB
Qwen3 32B
40.5 GB
Q6_K
Command-R 35B
44.2 GB
Qwen3 32B
31.7 GB
Q5_K_M
Command-R 35B
39.9 GB
Qwen3 32B
27.7 GB
Q4_K_M
Command-R 35B
35.9 GB
Qwen3 32B
23.9 GB
Q3_K_M
Command-R 35B
30.9 GB
Qwen3 32B
19.2 GB
Q2_K
Command-R 35B
27.0 GB
Qwen3 32B
15.5 GB
NVFP4
Command-R 35B
31.6 GB
Qwen3 32B
19.9 GB
QuantCommand-R 35BQwen3 32BDiff
FP32168.8 GB148.4 GB+14%
BF1690.4 GB75.0 GB+21%
FP1690.4 GB75.0 GB+21%
Q8_053.7 GB40.5 GB+32%
Q6_K44.2 GB31.7 GB+40%
Q5_K_M39.9 GB27.7 GB+44%
Q4_K_M35.9 GB23.9 GB+50%
Q3_K_M30.9 GB19.2 GB+61%
Q2_K27.0 GB15.5 GB+74%
NVFP431.6 GB19.9 GB+59%

Diff is Command-R 35B relative to Qwen3 32B. Green = lower VRAM (fits more GPUs).

Model specifications

SpecCommand-R 35BQwen3 32B
OrgCohereAlibaba
Parameters35B32.8B
ArchitectureDenseDense
Context125k tokens128k tokens
Modalitiestexttext
LicenseCC-BY-NC 4.0Apache 2.0
CommercialNoYes
Released2024-08-302025-04-29
GPUs (native)53 / 11974 / 119

Benchmark scores

BenchmarkCommand-R 35BQwen3 32B
MMLU-Pro33.065.5
IFEval68.0N/A
Arena ELO1150.0N/A

Green = higher score (better). N/A = not yet available. ~ = inherited from a base model, not independently reported for that release itself.

GPUs that run only Command-R 35B(0)

Every GPU that runs Command-R 35B also runs Qwen3 32B.

GPUs that run only Qwen3 32B(21)

GPUs that run both natively(53)

Which should you use?

Choose Command-R 35B if:
  • • You want maximum capability and have a 36 GB+ GPU
Choose Qwen3 32B if:
  • • You have limited VRAM: it's a smaller model needing 23.9 GB vs 35.9 GB
  • • Long context matters: it supports 128k tokens vs 125k
  • • You need commercial use rights
  • • Benchmark quality matters: scores 65.5 vs 33.0 on MMLU-Pro
  • • You need chain-of-thought reasoning
  • • It's the newer release (2025-04-29 vs 2024-08-30); check the benchmark table above for what actually improved

Frequently asked questions

Which is better, Command-R 35B or Qwen3 32B?
Command-R 35B has 35B parameters vs 32.8B for Qwen3 32B, so Command-R 35B is the larger model. Qwen3 32B is more hardware-efficient, needing 23.9 GB at its Q4_K_M build vs 35.9 GB for Command-R 35B's Q4_K_M. Qwen3 32B runs on more GPUs natively (74 vs 53). On MMLU-Pro, Qwen3 32B scores higher (65.5 vs 33.0).
How much VRAM does Command-R 35B need vs Qwen3 32B?
At 8k context, Command-R 35B needs approximately 35.9 GB of VRAM at its Q4_K_M build, while Qwen3 32B needs 23.9 GB at its Q4_K_M build. At the largest build each ships, Command-R 35B requires 90.4 GB (FP16) vs 75.0 GB (FP16) for Qwen3 32B.
Can you run Command-R 35B on the same GPUs as Qwen3 32B?
Yes, 53 GPUs can run both natively in VRAM, including NVIDIA RTX 5090, NVIDIA B300 288GB, NVIDIA B200 180GB. However, no GPU can run Command-R 35B without also fitting Qwen3 32B, and 21 GPUs can run Qwen3 32B but not Command-R 35B.
What is the difference between Command-R 35B and Qwen3 32B?
Command-R 35B has 35B parameters (dense) with a 125k context window. Qwen3 32B has 32.8B parameters (dense) with a 128k context window. Licensing differs: Command-R 35B is CC-BY-NC 4.0 while Qwen3 32B is Apache 2.0.
Which model fits in 24 GB of VRAM, Command-R 35B or Qwen3 32B?
Neither fits in 24 GB: Command-R 35B needs 35.9 GB at Q4_K_M and Qwen3 32B needs 23.9 GB at Q4_K_M. Both require at least a 48 GB GPU.
Full Command-R 35B page →Full Qwen3 32B page →Check your hardware →