qwen
8B parameters
Commercial OK
Reviewed October 2026Qwen 3 Embedding 8B
Qwen 3 family embedding model. Apache 2.0 with strong multilingual coverage.
License: Apache 2.0·Released Jun 5, 2025·Context: 32,768 tokens
Overview
Qwen 3 family embedding model. Apache 2.0 with strong multilingual coverage.
Strengths
- Apache 2.0
- Multilingual
- Qwen 3 base
Weaknesses
- Larger than BGE-M3 — pick by VRAM budget
Quantization variants
Each quantization trades model quality for file size and VRAM. Q4_K_M is the most popular starting point.
| Quantization | File size | VRAM required |
|---|---|---|
| FP16 | 16.0 GB | 20 GB |
Get the model
HuggingFace
Original weights
huggingface.co/Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B
Source repository — direct quantization required.
Hardware that runs this
Cards with enough VRAM for at least one quantization of Qwen 3 Embedding 8B.
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
20GB · amd · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti 22GB (China-mod)
22GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile
24GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
24GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti
24GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
24GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
NVIDIA L4
24GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
NVIDIA RTX A5000
24GB · nvidia · fits by VRAM, no benchmark yet
Compare alternatives
Models worth comparing
Same parameter band, plus what's one tier above and below — so you can decide what actually fits your hardware.
Same tier
Models in the same parameter band as this one
Step up
More capable — bigger memory footprint
Step down
Smaller — faster, runs on weaker hardware
Frequently asked
What's the minimum VRAM to run Qwen 3 Embedding 8B?
20GB of VRAM is enough to run Qwen 3 Embedding 8B at the FP16 quantization (file size 16.0 GB). Higher-quality quantizations need more.
Can I use Qwen 3 Embedding 8B commercially?
Yes — Qwen 3 Embedding 8B ships under the Apache 2.0, which permits commercial use. Always read the license text before deployment.
What's the context length of Qwen 3 Embedding 8B?
Qwen 3 Embedding 8B supports a context window of 32,768 tokens (about 33K).
Source: huggingface.co/Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B
Reviewed by RunLocalAI Editorial. See our editorial policy for how we research and verify model claims.
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Before you buy
Verify Qwen 3 Embedding 8B runs on your specific hardware before committing money.