Model Comparison

Grok-1.5 vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1Which is better in 2026?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Grok-1.5 vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 — which is better?

Grok-1.5 (by xAI) and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 (by NVIDIA) 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.

Grok-1.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Grok-1.5 if…

  • you are already invested in the xAI ecosystem

Choose Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Mar 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Grok-1.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Jul 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-1.5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 uses Llama 3.1 Community License.

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

Grok-1.5

Proprietary

Closed source

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-1.5 was released on 2024-03-28, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 was released on 2025-03-18.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 is 12 months newer than Grok-1.5.

Grok-1.5

Mar 28, 2024

2.3 years ago

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

Mar 18, 2025

1.3 years ago

11mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-31, while Grok-1.5's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1's training data extends to 2023-12-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Grok-1.5's cutoff date.

Grok-1.5

—

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

Dec 2023

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

xAI

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

NVIDIA
Has open weights
Higher GPQA score (54.1% vs 35.9%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Grok-1.5 and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok-1.5
✓ Preferred
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
xAI
Grok-1.5
NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-1.5 vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1.

Which is better, Grok-1.5 or Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Grok-1.5 is made by xAI and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 is made by NVIDIA. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Grok-1.5 compare to Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 in benchmarks?

Grok-1.5 scores GSM8k: 90.0%, DocVQA: 85.6%, MMLU: 81.3%, HumanEval: 74.1%, MMMU: 53.6%. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 scores MATH-500: 95.4%, MBPP: 84.6%, MT-Bench: 81.0%, IFEval: 79.3%, BFCL v2: 63.6%.

What are the main differences between Grok-1.5 and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1?

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

Who makes Grok-1.5 and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1?

Grok-1.5 is developed by xAI and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 is developed by NVIDIA.

Related comparisons