Model Comparison

Grok-2 mini vs Llama 3.3 70B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Grok-2 mini has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Verdict: Grok-2 mini vs Llama 3.3 70B Instruct — which is better?

Grok-2 mini (by xAI) and Llama 3.3 70B 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 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro), while Llama 3.3 70B Instruct is better at 2 benchmarks (HumanEval, MATH). Grok-2 mini has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Choose Grok-2 mini if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 5 shared benchmarks

Choose Llama 3.3 70B Instruct if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2024
  • 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 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro), while Llama 3.3 70B Instruct is better at 2 benchmarks (HumanEval, MATH).

Grok-2 mini has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Wed Jul 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Llama 3.3 70B Instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Llama 3.3 70B Instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

xAI
Grok-2 mini
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Meta
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Wed Jul 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Grok-2 mini supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.3 70B 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 3.3 70B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-2 mini is licensed under a proprietary license, while Llama 3.3 70B Instruct uses Llama 3.3 Community License Agreement.

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

Grok-2 mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct

Llama 3.3 Community License Agreement

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-2 mini was released on 2024-08-13, while Llama 3.3 70B Instruct was released on 2024-12-06.

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct is 4 months newer than Grok-2 mini.

Grok-2 mini

Aug 13, 2024

1.9 years ago

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct

Dec 6, 2024

1.6 years ago

3mo newer

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 50.5%)
Higher MMLU score (86.2% vs 86.0%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (72.0% vs 68.9%)
Meta
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Has open weights
Higher HumanEval score (88.4% vs 85.7%)
Higher MATH score (77.0% vs 73.0%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Grok-2 mini and Llama 3.3 70B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok-2 mini
✓ Preferred
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
xAI
Grok-2 mini
Meta
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-2 mini vs Llama 3.3 70B Instruct.

Which is better, Grok-2 mini or Llama 3.3 70B Instruct?

Grok-2 mini has a slight edge in benchmark performance. Grok-2 mini is made by xAI and Llama 3.3 70B 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 3.3 70B Instruct in benchmarks?

Grok-2 mini scores DocVQA: 93.2%, MMLU: 86.2%, HumanEval: 85.7%, MATH: 73.0%, MMLU-Pro: 72.0%. Llama 3.3 70B Instruct scores IFEval: 92.1%, MGSM: 91.1%, HumanEval: 88.4%, MBPP EvalPlus: 87.6%, MMLU: 86.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Grok-2 mini and Llama 3.3 70B Instruct?

Grok-2 mini supports an unknown number of tokens and Llama 3.3 70B 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 3.3 70B Instruct?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs Llama 3.3 Community License Agreement). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok-2 mini and Llama 3.3 70B Instruct?

Grok-2 mini is developed by xAI and Llama 3.3 70B Instruct is developed by Meta.

Related comparisons