diff --git a/studio/backend/utils/models/model_config.py b/studio/backend/utils/models/model_config.py
index cd0eb106b8..f5b8dfc823 100644
--- a/studio/backend/utils/models/model_config.py
+++ b/studio/backend/utils/models/model_config.py
@@ -962,6 +962,18 @@ def list_gguf_variants(
             )
         )
 
+    # Sort: recommended first, then UD variants by size, then non-UD by size.
+    best_file = _pick_best_gguf([v.filename for v in variants])
+    best_quant = _extract_quant_label(best_file) if best_file else None
+
+    def _sort_key(v: GgufVariantInfo) -> tuple:
+        is_recommended = v.quant == best_quant
+        is_ud = v.quant.startswith("UD-")
+        # (0, ...) recommended | (1, 0, size) other UD | (1, 1, size) non-UD
+        return (0 if is_recommended else 1, 0 if is_ud else 1, v.size_bytes)
+
+    variants.sort(key=_sort_key)
+
     return variants, has_vision