Model Comparison

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1Which is better in 2026?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 — which is better?

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct (by Meta) and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 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.

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, IFEval). Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Llama 3.1 405B Instruct if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.89/M input and $0.89/M output

Choose Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, IFEval).

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

152.0B diff

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has 152.0B more parameters than Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1, making it 60.1% larger.

Meta
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
405.0Bparameters
NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
253.0Bparameters
405.0B
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
253.0B
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

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).

Meta
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Llama 3.1 Community License.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 was released on 2025-04-07.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is 9 months newer than Llama 3.1 405B Instruct.

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

Jul 23, 2024

2.0 years ago

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Apr 7, 2025

1.3 years ago

8mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-01, while Llama 3.1 405B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1's training data extends to 2023-12-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Llama 3.1 405B Instruct's cutoff date.

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

—

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Dec 2023

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Meta
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
NVIDIA
Higher GPQA score (76.0% vs 50.7%)
Higher IFEval score (89.5% vs 88.6%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
✓ Preferred
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Meta
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

FAQ

Common questions about Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1.

Which is better, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct or Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is made by Meta and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is made by NVIDIA. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Llama 3.1 405B Instruct compare to Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 in benchmarks?

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%. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 scores MATH-500: 97.0%, IFEval: 89.5%, GPQA: 76.0%, BFCL v2: 74.1%, AIME 2025: 72.5%.

What are the context window sizes for Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1?

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct supports 128K tokens and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

Who makes Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1?

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is developed by Meta and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is developed by NVIDIA.

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