Model Comparison

Granite 3.3 8B Base vs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Granite 3.3 8B Base outperforms in 1 benchmarks (HumanEval), while Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is better at 4 benchmarks (ARC-C, DROP, IFEval, MMLU).

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Thu May 14 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

170.0M diff

Granite 3.3 8B Base has 0.2B more parameters than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct, making it 2.1% larger.

IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Base
8.2Bparameters
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
8.0Bparameters
8.2B
Granite 3.3 8B Base
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).

IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Base
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Thu May 14 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Granite 3.3 8B Base supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.1 8B Instruct does not.

Granite 3.3 8B Base can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Granite 3.3 8B Base is licensed under Apache 2.0, 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.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Granite 3.3 8B Base was released on 2025-04-16, while Llama 3.1 8B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23.

Granite 3.3 8B Base is 9 months newer than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apr 16, 2025

1.1 years ago

8mo newer
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Jul 23, 2024

1.8 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Granite 3.3 8B Base has a knowledge cutoff of 2024-04-01, while Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has a cutoff of 2023-12-31.

Granite 3.3 8B Base has more recent training data (up to 2024-04-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (2023-12-31).

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apr 2024

4 mo newer
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Dec 2023

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

IBM
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher HumanEval score (89.7% vs 72.6%)
Meta
Larger context window (131,072 tokens)
Higher ARC-C score (83.4% vs 50.8%)
Higher DROP score (59.5% vs 36.1%)
Higher IFEval score (80.4% vs 74.8%)
Higher MMLU score (69.4% vs 63.9%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Base
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Granite 3.3 8B Base vs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct.

Which is better, Granite 3.3 8B Base or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Granite 3.3 8B Base is made by IBM 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 Granite 3.3 8B Base compare to Llama 3.1 8B Instruct in benchmarks?

Granite 3.3 8B Base scores HumanEval: 89.7%, AttaQ: 88.5%, HumanEval+: 86.1%, AIME 2024: 81.2%, HellaSwag: 80.1%. 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 Granite 3.3 8B Base and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

Granite 3.3 8B Base 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 Granite 3.3 8B Base and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Llama 3.1 Community License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Granite 3.3 8B Base and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?

Granite 3.3 8B Base is developed by IBM and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is developed by Meta.