DeepSeek R1 Zero vs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct Comparison

Comparing DeepSeek R1 Zero and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

DeepSeek R1 Zero outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

DeepSeek R1 Zero significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Mar 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Cost data unavailable.

Lowest available price from all providers
Fri Mar 20 2026 • llm-stats.com
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Zero
Input tokens$0.00
Output tokens$0.00
Best providerUnknown Organization
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Input tokens$0.03
Output tokens$0.03
Best providerLambda
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

663.0B diff

DeepSeek R1 Zero has 663.0B more parameters than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct, making it 8287.5% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Zero
671.0Bparameters
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
8.0Bparameters
671.0B
DeepSeek R1 Zero
8.0B
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Llama 3.1 8B Instruct specifies input context (131,072 tokens). Only Llama 3.1 8B Instruct specifies output context (131,072 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Zero
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Fri Mar 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Zero is licensed under MIT, while Llama 3.1 8B Instruct uses Llama 3.1 Community License.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

DeepSeek R1 Zero

MIT

Open weights

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek R1 Zero was released on 2025-01-20, while Llama 3.1 8B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23.

DeepSeek R1 Zero is 6 months newer than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct.

DeepSeek R1 Zero

Jan 20, 2025

1.2 years ago

6mo newer
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Jul 23, 2024

1.7 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-31, while DeepSeek R1 Zero's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Llama 3.1 8B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-12-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek R1 Zero's cutoff date.

DeepSeek R1 Zero

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Dec 2023

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion

Key Takeaways

Higher GPQA score (73.3% vs 30.4%)
Larger context window (131,072 tokens)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Zero
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct