Model Comparison

Grok-3 vs DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8BWhich is better in 2026?

Grok-3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Grok-3 vs DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B — which is better?

Grok-3 (by xAI) and DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B (by DeepSeek) 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-3 outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2024, GPQA, LiveCodeBench), while DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B is better at 0 benchmarks. Grok-3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Grok-3 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2025

Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Grok-3 outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2024, GPQA, LiveCodeBench), while DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B is better at 0 benchmarks.

Grok-3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Jun 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Grok-3 specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Grok-3 specifies output context (8,000 tokens).

xAI
Grok-3
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Fri Jun 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Grok-3 supports multimodal inputs, whereas DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B does not.

Grok-3 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Grok-3

Text
Images
Audio
Video

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-3 is licensed under a proprietary license, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B uses MIT.

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

Grok-3

Proprietary

Closed source

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-3 was released on 2025-02-17, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B was released on 2025-01-20.

Grok-3 is 1 month newer than DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B.

Grok-3

Feb 17, 2025

1.4 years ago

4w newer
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B

Jan 20, 2025

1.4 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok-3 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-17, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Grok-3's training data extends to 2024-11-17, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B's cutoff date.

Grok-3

Nov 2024

DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B

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Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

xAI
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher AIME 2024 score (93.3% vs 80.0%)
Higher GPQA score (84.6% vs 49.0%)
Higher LiveCodeBench score (79.4% vs 39.6%)
DeepSeek
Has open weights
xAIGrok-3
DeepSeekDeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B
Compare in Playground

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Grok-3 and DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok-3
✓ Preferred
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
xAI
Grok-3
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-3 vs DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B.

Which is better, Grok-3 or DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B?

Grok-3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Grok-3 is made by xAI and DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B is made by DeepSeek. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Grok-3 compare to DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B in benchmarks?

Grok-3 scores AIME 2024: 93.3%, AIME 2025: 93.3%, GPQA: 84.6%, LiveCodeBench: 79.4%, MMMU: 78.0%. DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B scores MATH-500: 89.1%, AIME 2024: 80.0%, GPQA: 49.0%, LiveCodeBench: 39.6%.

What are the context window sizes for Grok-3 and DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B?

Grok-3 supports 128K tokens and DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Grok-3 and DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B?

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

Who makes Grok-3 and DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B?

Grok-3 is developed by xAI and DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B is developed by DeepSeek.

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