Darkbloom on a Mac Studio: what Max and Ultra Macs earn
Updated
No public source shows what individual Macs earn. Darkbloom’s public leaderboard endpoint returned an empty list on September 29, 2026, and the public network stats contain no money. What the stats do show is how much of the network’s work goes to each kind of Mac. For Mac Studios the picture is clear: they are about a third of connected Macs and do most of the work, and large Ultra Studios do the most. How much that is in dollars for one Mac, nobody outside Darkbloom can say.
What can and can’t be known
- Can: every connected Mac’s chip, memory, memory bandwidth, loaded model, whether it is serving a request right now, and requests and tokens since it last connected (Darkbloom’s public /v1/stats).
- Can’t: what any Mac earned. There is no per-Mac money in public data, and the leaderboard endpoint can come back empty (issue #1139).
- Can’t: long-run activity per Mac. Counters reset when a provider reconnects, and provider ids change on every restart.
- The console leaderboard ranks accounts over the last 24 hours, and many accounts run several Macs, so it doesn’t tell you what one Mac earns either.
Mac Studios in the public stats
Four reads of Darkbloom’s public /v1/stats on September 29, 2026, 16:54–16:59 UTC: about 1,180 connected Macs, 5–7% of network capacity in use. Mac Studios are identified by Apple’s model identifier. “Share of tokens” counts tokens generated since each Mac last connected, so it favors Macs with long sessions. “Serving” means handling at least one request at that moment; 19% of all Macs were.
| Mac Studio group | Macs | Share of Macs | Share of tokens | Model loaded | Serving |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max, 32–36 GB | 37 | 3.1% | 2.3% | 32% | 7% |
| Max, 48–64 GB | 115 | 9.8% | 12.6% | 87% | 19% |
| Max, 96–128 GB | 41 | 3.5% | 9.9% | 93% | 27% |
| Ultra, 64 GB | 45 | 3.8% | 3.9% | 87% | 9% |
| Ultra, 96–128 GB | 57 | 4.8% | 10.1% | 96% | 27% |
| Ultra, 192–512 GB | 96 | 8.1% | 21.0% | 97% | 53% |
| All other Macs | 789 | 66.8% | 40.2% | 58% | 16% |
What the numbers say
- Mac Studios were a third of connected Macs and had generated about 60% of the tokens.
- Ultra Studios with 192–512 GB were 8% of Macs and had generated 21% of the tokens. About half of them were serving at any moment, against 19% of all Macs.
- Memory alone doesn’t decide it. 64 GB Ultra Studios (all M1 and M2 Ultra) generated only their share of tokens and were serving less often than the average Mac.
- Faster chips win more at the same memory. 64 GB M4 Max Studios had generated about eight times as many tokens per Mac as 64 GB M1 Max Studios. Treat single comparisons with care: sessions differ in length, and many Macs reconnected after late-September verification problems.
- Two thirds of 32–36 GB Max Studios had no model loaded, so they earned nothing at that moment, not even the base reward.
Why bigger and faster Macs win
- Routing picks the Mac with the lowest estimated time to answer. A faster Mac with a warm model and an empty queue wins the race.
- Generation speed follows memory bandwidth. Darkbloom’s own calculator estimates speed from it. Bandwidth reported in the public stats: M1 and M2 Max 400 GB/s, M4 Max up to 546 GB/s, M1 and M2 Ultra 800 GB/s, M3 Ultra 819 GB/s.
- Memory decides what fits and how much room is left. Every model in Darkbloom’s hardware table loads on a 48 GB Mac, and memory beyond the model’s weights goes to the cache for concurrent requests.
- Gemma needs the Mac to itself. Public Gemma 4 requests only go to Macs that advertise nothing but Gemma 4. A big Studio that keeps several models ready gets no public Gemma traffic.
Base rewards for Studios
- Monthly targets by memory: 64 GB $18, 96 GB $22, 128 GB $26, 192 GB $30 (a 256 GB Mac is in this tier), 512 GB $40. A 36 GB Studio is in the $12 tier and a 48 GB Studio in the $16 tier.
- The pool is shared. Half is reserved for 48–96 GB Macs, and in each 5-minute period the Macs that earned least from requests are paid first. When the pool runs short, busy large Studios are paid last.
- Darkbloom’s hardware doc (updated September 28, 2026) says the M5 Ultra Mac Studio’s identifier is not yet in the base-reward catalog, so it is not eligible for base rewards until Darkbloom confirms it. It can still serve.
Public money figures, and why they aren’t typical
- Darkbloom’s website example: an M4 Max 128 GB MacBook Pro at $204.89 a month. It is a calculator estimate that assumes the Mac produces output 60% of the time, far above the 5–7% of network capacity in use in late September.
- The 30-day leaderboard posted on Reddit on August 26, 2026 (accounts, often several Macs): #1 $579.85, #10 $107.50, #50 $53.22. These are the top accounts, not a typical Mac, and demand has changed since.
- A public Reddit report from a 96 GB M2 Max found 99.8% of a 100-entry earnings sample was base reward, about $0.73 a day.
Before you buy a Studio for Darkbloom
Don’t count on paying it off. The network has far more capacity than demand, prices and rules change often, and base rewards are a target from a fixed pool. If you already own a Studio that sits idle, run it for a week and look at confirmed earnings per hour before deciding anything.
Sources
- Darkbloom routing architecture: github.com/Layr-Labs/d-inference/blob/master/docs/architecture/routing.md
- Darkbloom pricing model (base rewards): github.com/Layr-Labs/d-inference/blob/master/docs/reference/pricing-model.md
- Darkbloom hardware requirements (M5 Ultra identifier): github.com/Layr-Labs/d-inference/blob/master/docs/provider/hardware-requirements.md
- Calculator code (speed from bandwidth): github.com/Layr-Labs/d-inference/blob/master/console-ui/src/app/earn/calc.ts
- Empty leaderboard endpoint: github.com/Layr-Labs/d-inference/issues/1139
- Network figures: Darkbloom’s public /v1/stats endpoint, four reads on September 29, 2026 (16:54–16:59 UTC).
- Leaderboard and 96 GB reports: reddit.com/r/MacStudio/comments/1vykzbh and reddit.com/r/DarkbloomProviders/comments/1wrrwou
How BloomGauge helps
BloomGauge shows demand and warm Macs per model across the network, and on your own Studio it shows confirmed earnings per model and hour with base rewards separate. With up to ten Macs in one view, you can compare several Studios side by side.
Questions
How much does a Mac Studio earn on Darkbloom?
There is no public per-Mac earnings data. Public network stats on September 29, 2026 show Mac Studios were a third of connected Macs and had generated about 60% of the tokens, with 192–512 GB Ultra Studios doing the most. Base rewards add $18–40 a month by memory, as a target from a shared pool. Measure your own Studio’s confirmed earnings for a week.
Does more memory earn more on Darkbloom?
Partly. Memory decides which models fit and sets the base reward tier, but requests go to the Mac expected to answer fastest, which depends on chip speed and memory bandwidth. In public stats, 64 GB M1 and M2 Ultra Studios did no more than their share of work, while 64 GB M4 Max Studios did far more.
Is a Mac Studio worth buying for Darkbloom?
Probably not as an investment. The network had far more capacity than demand in late September 2026 (5–7% in use), and prices and rules change often. It makes more sense for a Studio you already own that would otherwise sit idle.
Related
- Is Darkbloom worth it on a Mac?
- How Darkbloom decides which Mac gets a request
- How Darkbloom pays Mac providers: token earnings and base rewards
- Which Darkbloom model should I run on my Mac?
- Does Darkbloom cover its electricity cost?
Updated 2026-09-29. Still stuck? Ask in #bloomgauge on the Darkbloom Slack or contact us. BloomGauge is independent and not affiliated with Darkbloom.