Can the Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB) run ShieldGemma 2B?

Barely: it runs very slowly (tight fit)

Very slow (tight fit). At Q4_K_M it needs about 2.6 GB of 2.8 GB usable and makes one decision in about 44.9 s.

Best quant: Q4_K_M
Time per decision: 44.9 s
Decisions per second: 0.0/s
Input assumed: 512 tokens
Returns: Probability or score

Best app to run it on the Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB)

On Linux on ARM boards

Command line + local API · runs on llama.cpp (ggml), MLX (Apple silicon, preview)

One command with Ollama’s own build of this model.
Serves an OpenAI-compatible API that other apps and coding tools can use.

ollama run shieldgemma:2b

LM Studio Point-and-click: search, download and chat in one window.
llama.cpp Usually the first to support new model architectures.

How we choose: the files published for this model, your operating system and GPU, whether it fits fully in memory, and published speed tests (MLX vs llama.cpp on Apple silicon, vLLM vs llama.cpp vs Ollama on NVIDIA). Details.

Download ShieldGemma 2B

Recommended for the Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB): Q4_K_M. Every other quantization has its own download link in the table below.

Quickest · Ollama

One command downloads a ready-to-run version and starts a chat.

Get Ollama at ollama.com/download (opens in a new tab) · model page (opens in a new tab)

ollama run shieldgemma:2b

Quantized files · GGUF

Works in LM Studio, llama.cpp, Jan and Ollama. No sign-in needed.

Download the Q4_K_M file (opens in a new tab)

huggingface.co/QuantFactory/shieldgemma-2b-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/QuantFactory/shieldgemma-2b-GGUF:Q4_K_M

Original weights · Hugging Face

Full-precision files from Google, for fine-tuning, vLLM, Transformers.

huggingface.co/google/shieldgemma-2b (opens in a new tab)

Free Hugging Face account needed: request access on the model page, and Google approves it (usually within minutes to a few hours).

Links checked 1 day ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How it’s rated

Quality 55Good quality (B) · 55 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 64/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.: How capable the model itself is at Q4_K_M, from its editorial quality tier scaled by the quantization or precision. It’s the same on any hardware that runs this variant. Scale: A+ 85+ · A 70+ · B 55+ · C 40+ · D under 40.
Runs Very slowtight fit: How well it runs on the Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB): speed, capped by how well it fits in memory. Runs great: 30+ tokens/s (or near the image, video or decision speed target) · Runs well: 10+ tokens/s · Slow: 3+ tokens/s · Very slow: under 3 · Won’t run: doesn’t fit even with offload. A tight fit or RAM offload caps it at Runs well; heavy offload caps it at Slow.

Match score

To order lists, each result also gets a match score out of 100 from four parts. It favors the most capable model that still runs well.

PrecisionEditorial precision tier from the model’s published benchmarks, scaled by the quantization or precision used.	24.8 / 45
Memory fitFull marks when the model fits in the share of unified memory the GPU can use; fewer when it goes past that limit.	24.0 / 25
SpeedTime for one decision against a 100 ms target: reading the input plus any tokens the model writes.	0.7 / 15
ClarityHow easy the answer is to use in code: a probability or score earns the most, written feedback before a score the least.	15.0 / 15
Match score	64.5 / 100

The match score orders results; it is not shown as a grade. Quality and Runs are the two ratings in the tables.

Every quantization on the Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB)

Quant	Memory needed	Available	Speed	Runs	Quality	Download
`Q4_K_M`	2.6 GB	2.8 GB	44.9 s	Very slowtight fit	55Good quality (B) · 55 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 64/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q5_K_M`	2.9 GB	2.8 GB	45.1 s	Very slowover memory limit	56Good quality (B) · 56 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 51/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q6_K`	3.2 GB	2.8 GB	45.2 s	Very slowfar over memory limit	57Good quality (B) · 57 of 100: how capable the model is at Q6_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 45/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q8_0`	3.8 GB	2.8 GB	—	Won't run	58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at Q8_0, whatever it runs on. Match score 7/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`F16`	6.3 GB	2.8 GB	—	Won't run	58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 7/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking.	Original weights (opens in a new tab)

Times are for one request with a 512-token input and about 1 tokens written. Batching servers process many requests at once.

Other hardware that runs it

58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 81/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX F16 · 33 ms · Runs great
58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 81/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT F16 · 43 ms · Runs great
58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 81/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (128 GB) F16 · 81 ms · Runs great
58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 81/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M2 Ultra (192 GB) F16 · 96 ms · Runs great
58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 81/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M3 Ultra (256 GB) F16 · 93 ms · Runs great
58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at F16, whatever it runs on. Match score 81/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. Apple M3 Ultra (512 GB) F16 · 93 ms · Runs great

Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.