Model Comparison

Grok-2 mini vs Llama 3.1 405B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Grok-2 mini vs Llama 3.1 405B Instruct — which is better?

Grok-2 mini (by xAI) and Llama 3.1 405B 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.

Grok-2 mini outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is better at 4 benchmarks (HumanEval, MATH, MMLU, MMLU-Pro). Llama 3.1 405B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Grok-2 mini if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2024

Choose Llama 3.1 405B Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 5 shared benchmarks
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Grok-2 mini outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is better at 4 benchmarks (HumanEval, MATH, MMLU, MMLU-Pro).

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Jul 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Llama 3.1 405B Instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Llama 3.1 405B Instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

xAI
Grok-2 mini
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Meta
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Mon Jul 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Grok-2 mini supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.1 405B Instruct does not.

Grok-2 mini can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Grok-2 mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-2 mini is licensed under a proprietary license, while Llama 3.1 405B Instruct uses Llama 3.1 Community License.

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

Grok-2 mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-2 mini was released on 2024-08-13, while Llama 3.1 405B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23.

Grok-2 mini is 1 month newer than Llama 3.1 405B Instruct.

Grok-2 mini

Aug 13, 2024

2.0 years ago

3w newer
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

Jul 23, 2024

2.0 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

xAI
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (51.0% vs 50.7%)
Meta
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Has open weights
Higher HumanEval score (89.0% vs 85.7%)
Higher MATH score (73.8% vs 73.0%)
Higher MMLU score (87.3% vs 86.2%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (73.3% vs 72.0%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Grok-2 mini and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok-2 mini
✓ Preferred
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
xAI
Grok-2 mini
Meta
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-2 mini vs Llama 3.1 405B Instruct.

Which is better, Grok-2 mini or Llama 3.1 405B Instruct?

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Grok-2 mini is made by xAI and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is made by Meta. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Grok-2 mini compare to Llama 3.1 405B Instruct in benchmarks?

Grok-2 mini scores DocVQA: 93.2%, MMLU: 86.2%, HumanEval: 85.7%, MATH: 73.0%, MMLU-Pro: 72.0%. Llama 3.1 405B Instruct scores ARC-C: 96.9%, GSM8k: 96.8%, API-Bank: 92.0%, Multilingual MGSM (CoT): 91.6%, HumanEval: 89.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Grok-2 mini and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct?

Grok-2 mini supports an unknown number of tokens and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Grok-2 mini and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct?

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

Who makes Grok-2 mini and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct?

Grok-2 mini is developed by xAI and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is developed by Meta.

Related comparisons