How to delete Ollama models on Mac
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 lsHow to delete Ollama models
This command deletes a model from the Mac. Replace llama3.2 with a name from the list:
ollama rm llama3.2Run it once for each model you no longer need, then check the list again:
ollama lsTo use a deleted model again, download it:
ollama pull llama3.2Stop 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 psThis one unloads a model right away. It frees memory, not disk space. The model stays on the Mac:
ollama stop llama3.2Where 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 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 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.
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: delete the models on the list one by one, as shown above. Quitting Ollama and deleting the ~/.ollama/models folder also removes them all.
Can I get a deleted model back?
Yes, download it again by its name, for example: ollama pull llama3.2 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, delete the model: ollama rm llama3.2