Model Comparison

GLM-4.5-Air vs Llama 3.1 8B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

GLM-4.5-Air significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: GLM-4.5-Air vs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct — which is better?

GLM-4.5-Air (by Zhipu AI) and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (by Meta) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

GLM-4.5-Air outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro), while Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. GLM-4.5-Air significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose GLM-4.5-Air if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2025

Choose Llama 3.1 8B Instruct if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.03/M input and $0.03/M output

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

GLM-4.5-Air outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro), while Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

GLM-4.5-Air significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Jul 10 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

98.0B diff

GLM-4.5-Air has 98.0B more parameters than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct, making it 1225.0% larger.

Zhipu AI
GLM-4.5-Air
106.0Bparameters
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
8.0Bparameters
106.0B
GLM-4.5-Air
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).

Zhipu AI
GLM-4.5-Air
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Fri Jul 10 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

GLM-4.5-Air 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.

GLM-4.5-Air

MIT

Open weights

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

GLM-4.5-Air was released on 2025-07-28, while Llama 3.1 8B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23.

GLM-4.5-Air is 12 months newer than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct.

GLM-4.5-Air

Jul 28, 2025

11 months ago

1.0yr newer
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Jul 23, 2024

2.0 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-31, while GLM-4.5-Air'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 GLM-4.5-Air's cutoff date.

GLM-4.5-Air

—

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Dec 2023

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Zhipu AI
Higher GPQA score (75.0% vs 30.4%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (81.4% vs 48.3%)
Meta
Larger context window (131,072 tokens)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against GLM-4.5-Air and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

GLM-4.5-Air
✓ Preferred
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Zhipu AI
GLM-4.5-Air
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about GLM-4.5-Air vs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct.

Which is better, GLM-4.5-Air or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

GLM-4.5-Air significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. GLM-4.5-Air is made by Zhipu AI and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is made by Meta. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does GLM-4.5-Air compare to Llama 3.1 8B Instruct in benchmarks?

GLM-4.5-Air scores MATH-500: 98.1%, AIME 2024: 89.4%, MMLU-Pro: 81.4%, TAU-bench Retail: 77.9%, BFCL-v3: 76.4%. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct scores GSM-8K (CoT): 84.5%, ARC-C: 83.4%, API-Bank: 82.6%, IFEval: 80.4%, BFCL: 76.1%.

What are the context window sizes for GLM-4.5-Air and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

GLM-4.5-Air supports an unknown number of tokens and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct supports 131K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between GLM-4.5-Air and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

Key differences include licensing (MIT vs Llama 3.1 Community License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes GLM-4.5-Air and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

GLM-4.5-Air is developed by Zhipu AI and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is developed by Meta.

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