How to delete Ollama models on Mac

Q: How do I delete all Ollama models at once?

There is no single command for it: run ollama rm for each model from ollama ls. Quitting Ollama and deleting the ~/.ollama/models folder also removes them all.

Q: Can I get a deleted model back?

Yes, download it again with ollama pull and its name. Models you created yourself from a Modelfile have to be created again.

Ollama keeps every model you pulled until you remove it, so it’s worth knowing how to delete Ollama models on a Mac: each one takes from one to tens of gigabytes. A deleted model can be downloaded again, and Ollama itself and your other models stay. This guide shows how to see which models take space, delete them, stop a running model and find where they are stored.

See which models you have

Open Terminal and run this command. It lists the models you downloaded with their names and sizes:

ollama ls

How to delete Ollama models

This command deletes a model from the Mac. Replace llama3.2 with a name from the list. To use the model again, download it with ollama pull:

ollama rm llama3.2

Run ollama rm once for each model you no longer need, then ollama ls again to check.

Stop a model that is running

A model you used stays loaded in memory for 5 minutes by default. This command shows which models are loaded now:

ollama ps

This one unloads a model right away. It frees memory, not disk space. The model stays on the Mac:

ollama stop llama3.2

Where Ollama keeps models

Ollama stores models in ~/.ollama/models, a hidden folder in your home folder. If you set the OLLAMA_MODELS environment variable, they are in the folder it names. Delete models with ollama rm rather than in Finder: the files there are named by checksum, not by model, and a file can belong to more than one model.

If you don’t use Ollama anymore, see how to uninstall Ollama.

Keep your Mac tidy

MacWashing, System Junk: Xcode junk, user caches, installers and logs found, 22.83 GB ready to be cleaned

MacWashing doesn’t delete Ollama models: use ollama rm, Ollama knows which files each model uses. System Junk clears the caches of your other apps and developer tools.

Download MacWashing How it works

Free trial · macOS 14 or later

Questions and answers

How do I delete all Ollama models at once?

There is no single command for it: run ollama rm for each model from ollama ls. Quitting Ollama and deleting the ~/.ollama/models folder also removes them all.

Can I get a deleted model back?

Yes, download it again with ollama pull and its name. Models you created yourself from a Modelfile have to be created again.

Does ollama stop delete a model?

No. It only unloads the model from memory. To free disk space, use ollama rm.