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 19.9 GB at Q4_K_M vs 31.6 GB for Command-R 35B, fitting on 51 GPUs natively.
VRAM at each quantization (8k context)
| Quant | Command-R 35B | Qwen3 32B | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| FP16 | 90.4 GB | 75.0 GB | +21% |
| Q8 | 51.2 GB | 38.2 GB | +34% |
| Q6_K | 41.4 GB | 29.1 GB | +43% |
| Q5_K_M | 36.5 GB | 24.5 GB | +49% |
| Q4_K_M | 31.6 GB | 19.9 GB | +59% |
| Q3_K_M | 27.7 GB | 16.2 GB | +71% |
| Q2_K | 23.8 GB | 12.5 GB | +90% |
Diff is Command-R 35B relative to Qwen3 32B. Green = lower VRAM (fits more GPUs).
Model specifications
| Spec | Command-R 35B | Qwen3 32B |
|---|---|---|
| Org | Cohere | Alibaba |
| Parameters | 35B | 32.8B |
| Architecture | Dense | Dense |
| Context | 125k tokens | 128k tokens |
| Modalities | text | text |
| License | CC-BY-NC 4.0 | Apache 2.0 |
| Commercial | No | Yes |
| Released | 2024-08-30 | 2025-04-29 |
| GPUs (native) | 38 / 67 | 51 / 67 |
Benchmark scores
Green = higher score (better). — = not yet available.
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(13)
- NVIDIA RTX 409024 GB
- NVIDIA RTX 408016 GB
- NVIDIA RTX 4060 Ti 16GB16 GB
- NVIDIA RTX 309024 GB
- NVIDIA RTX 3090 Ti24 GB
- AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX24 GB
- AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT20 GB
- AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT16 GB
- Apple M4 Pro (24GB)24 GB
- Apple M3 Pro (18GB)18 GB
- +3 more
GPUs that run both natively(38)
- NVIDIA RTX 509032 GB
- NVIDIA H100 80GB80 GB
- NVIDIA A100 80GB80 GB
- NVIDIA A100 40GB40 GB
- NVIDIA L40S48 GB
- NVIDIA RTX A600048 GB
- NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada48 GB
- NVIDIA DGX Spark (128GB)128 GB
- AMD Instinct MI300X192 GB
- AMD Strix Halo (128GB)128 GB
- AMD Strix Halo (96GB)96 GB
- AMD Strix Halo (64GB)64 GB
- +26 more GPUs run both
Which should you use?
Choose Command-R 35B if:
- • You want maximum capability and have a 32 GB+ GPU
Choose Qwen3 32B if:
- • You have limited VRAM — it's a smaller model needing 19.9 GB vs 31.6 GB
- • Long context matters — it supports 128k tokens vs 125k
- • You need commercial use rights
- • You need chain-of-thought reasoning
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 19.9 GB at Q4_K_M vs 31.6 GB. Qwen3 32B runs on more GPUs natively (51 vs 38).
- How much VRAM does Command-R 35B need vs Qwen3 32B?
- At Q4_K_M quantization with 8k context, Command-R 35B needs approximately 31.6 GB of VRAM, while Qwen3 32B needs 19.9 GB. At FP16, Command-R 35B requires 90.4 GB vs 75.0 GB for Qwen3 32B.
- Can you run Command-R 35B on the same GPUs as Qwen3 32B?
- Yes, 38 GPUs can run both natively in VRAM, including NVIDIA RTX 5090, NVIDIA H100 80GB, NVIDIA A100 80GB. However, no GPU can run Command-R 35B without also fitting Qwen3 32B, and 13 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?
- Only Qwen3 32B fits in 24 GB at Q4_K_M (19.9 GB). Command-R 35B needs 31.6 GB, requiring a larger GPU.