HuggingFace Downloads
What is huggingface downloads?
HuggingFace monthly downloads measure actual usage of open weights models. Whisper (OpenAI's speech model) has 4.8M downloads per month. DeepSeek R1 has 2.3M. Stable Diffusion has 2.0M. Unlike GitHub stars (which measure interest), download counts measure active use. sourc.dev tracks this weekly for all open weights models.
Why it matters
HuggingFace downloads are the closest thing to actual usage data available for open weights models. Unlike GitHub stars (which measure interest), downloads measure someone actively pulling model weights to run. Whisper at 4.8M downloads/month is infrastructure-grade adoption. sourc.dev tracks this weekly to detect when adoption patterns shift — which models are gaining and losing actual users.
Where models stand
Data available for 11 of 271 tracked entities. Last updated 2026-03-31.
How sourc.dev tracks this
sourc.dev tracks huggingface downloads through its automated monitoring pipeline. Data is collected on a regular schedule, compared against previous values, and any changes are recorded in the history table with full provenance — source URL, effective date, and verification timestamp. Nothing is overwritten. The pipeline ensures this attribute stays current without manual intervention.
sourc.dev monitors this attribute automatically via pipeline. Every data point includes a source URL and verification date. Changes are recorded in the history table — nothing is overwritten.
This attribute is monitored on a regular schedule by automated pipeline. Changes are detected and recorded automatically.
Understanding huggingface downloads helps developers make informed decisions when choosing between models and providers. Rather than relying on marketing claims, sourc.dev provides verified, dated, source-linked data so the data decides.