other
1.9B parameters
Commercial OK
Multimodal
Reviewed November 2026

Moondream 2

Tiny vision-language model. ~1.9B; designed for edge / embedded multimodal use cases. Apache 2.0.

License: Apache 2.0·Released Mar 4, 2024·Context: 2,048 tokens

Overview

Tiny vision-language model. ~1.9B; designed for edge / embedded multimodal use cases. Apache 2.0.

Strengths

  • Apache 2.0 multimodal at 1.9B
  • Edge-deployable

Weaknesses

  • Quality ceiling at 1.9B parameters

Quantization variants

Each quantization trades model quality for file size and VRAM. Q4_K_M is the most popular starting point.

QuantizationFile sizeVRAM required
Q4_01.7 GB3 GB

Get the model

HuggingFace

Original weights

huggingface.co/vikhyatk/moondream2

Source repository — direct quantization required.

Hardware that runs this

Cards with enough VRAM for at least one quantization of Moondream 2.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB
3GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
4GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
4GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super
4GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti (Mobile)
4GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
AMD Radeon RX 570
4GB · amd · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
6GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660
6GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
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Frequently asked

What's the minimum VRAM to run Moondream 2?

3GB of VRAM is enough to run Moondream 2 at the Q4_0 quantization (file size 1.7 GB). Higher-quality quantizations need more.

Can I use Moondream 2 commercially?

Yes — Moondream 2 ships under the Apache 2.0, which permits commercial use. Always read the license text before deployment.

What's the context length of Moondream 2?

Moondream 2 supports a context window of 2,048 tokens (about 2K).

Does Moondream 2 support images?

Yes — Moondream 2 is multimodal and accepts text + vision inputs. Vision support requires a runner that handles its image-conditioning architecture.

Source: huggingface.co/vikhyatk/moondream2

Reviewed by RunLocalAI Editorial. See our editorial policy for how we research and verify model claims.

Related — keep moving

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Before you buy

Verify Moondream 2 runs on your specific hardware before committing money.

Will it run on my hardware? →Custom hardware comparison →GPU recommender (4 questions) →