Stable Diffusion WebUI Forge (SD Forge) is an alternative version of Stable Diffusion WebUI that features faster image generation for low-VRAM GPUs, among other improvements.
This tutorial is for installing SD Forge, an advanced GUI for Stable Diffusion. Check out the Quick Start Guide and consider taking the Stable Diffusion Courses if you are new to Stable Diffusion.
This tutorial covers
- Installing SD Forge on Windows
- Installing SD Forge on Mac
- Sharing model files with AUTOMATIC11111
What is SD Forge?
SD Forge is a modified version of AUTOMATIC1111. It features faster image generation, preinstalled extensions, and a modified backend that makes certain features possible.
Benefits of using SD Forge
Faster image generation
According to the development team, SD Forge runs faster than AUTOMATIC1111. The less VRAM GPU cards you have, the more speed-up you will experience.
You can expect up to 75% faster for 6 GB VRAM, up to 45% faster for 8 GB, and up to 6% faster for 24 GB.
Better backend
The U-Net backend is reworked so that extensions can modify it easily. It is not uncommon to see conflicts in extensions in AUTOMATIC1111 because many of them modify the U-Net.
Preinstalled features
Many features that modify the U-Net are preinstalled. The list includes ControlNet and FreeU. There’s also native support for Stable Video Diffusion (SVD) and the Zero123 image-to-3D object generation.
How to Install SD Forge on Windows
The easiest way to install SD Forge on a Windows system is to use the one-click installation package.
Step 1: Download 7-zip
You need the 7-zip software to uncompress installation files.
Download 7-zip on this page or use this direct download link.
Double-click to run the downloaded exe file. Click Install to install 7-zip on your PC.
Step 2: Download the installation file
Go to SD Forge’s repository, and download the one-click package.
Step 3: Unzip the files
Right-click the downloaded file and select Extract All….
A new folder called with the same name as the file should appear. You can move the folder to a location you want.
Step 4: Update SD Forge
You need to update the software before running it. This ensures that you are running the latest version.
Click update.bat (Yours may not have .bat) to update SD Forge.
Depending on your Window’s security setting, a warning dialog box may show up. You need to click More Info > Run Anyway.
Step 5: Start SD Forge
Click run.bat to start SD Forge.
Sharing models with AUTOMATIC1111
If you have AUTOMATIC1111 WebUIinstalled on your local machine, you can share the model files with it. This will save you disk space and the trouble of managing two sets of models.
In the SD Forge directory, edit the file webui > webui-user.bat with a text editor. (e.g. Right-click the file and select Edit in Notepad.)
Change the following line:
set COMMANDLINE_ARGS=To:
set COMMANDLINE_ARGS=--forge-ref-a1111-home "C:pathtostable-diffusion-webui"The last part is the path of your AUTOMATIC1111 home folder.
On Windows 11, you can copy the path by right-clicking the stable-diffusion-webui folder and selecting Copy as path.
The path should end with stable-diffusion-webui.
How to Install SD Forge on Mac
You will need Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3 etc) to run Stable Diffusion WebUI Forge.
Step 1: Install Homebrew
You will need Homebrew, a package manager for Mac.
Open the Terminal app, type the following command, and press return.
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"Step 2: Install Python 3.10 and Git
Open a new terminal and run the following command.
brew install [email protected] git wgetStep 3: Clone SD Forge
In the terminal, run the following command to copy SD Forge to your local storage.
git clone https://github.com/lllyasviel/stable-diffusion-webui-forgeStep 4: Run SD Forge
In the terminal, enter the newly cloned directory.
cd stable-diffusion-webui-forgeStart SD Forge:
./webui.shSharing model with AUTOMATIC1111
You may already have AUTOMATIC1111 installed and want to test out SD Forge. You can share models with AUTOMATIC1111 by starting SD Forge with the following command.
./webui.sh --forge-ref-a1111-home path/to/A1111path/to/A1111 is the path to the home directory of AUTOMATIC11111.
You can copy the path name to the Clipboard by navigating to the stable-diffusion-webui folder in the Finder App. Right-click the folder name of the path bar at the bottom of the Finder App. Select Copy “stable-diffusion-webui” as Pathname.
If you don’t see the path bar, click View > Show Path Bar in the Finder App.
