Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Nova Lite
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct leads the LLM Stats Score 14.7 to 7.6. Nova Lite is 8.5x cheaper per token.
Meta · Amazon · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct leads the overall LLM Stats Score 14.7 to 7.6, ranking #233 overall.
In the 9 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct wins 8; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Nova Lite is roughly 8.5x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Nova Lite also accepts a larger context window (300,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
- overall performance matters — it scores 14.7 and ranks #233 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 8 of 9 exact shared results
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose Nova Lite
- cost matters — it's about 8.5x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 300,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2024
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
18 reported for Llama 3.1 405B Instruct · 27 for Nova Lite
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct outperforms in 8 benchmarks (ARC-C, BFCL, DROP, GPQA, GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MMLU), while Nova Lite is better at 1 benchmark (IFEval).
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct ($0.89/1M tokens) is 14.8x more expensive than Nova Lite ($0.06/1M tokens).
For output processing, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct ($0.89/1M tokens) is 3.7x more expensive than Nova Lite ($0.24/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is more expensive than Nova Lite.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Nova Lite accepts 300,000 input tokens compared to Llama 3.1 405B Instruct's 128,000 tokens. Llama 3.1 405B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Nova Lite is limited to 2,048 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Nova Lite supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.1 405B Instruct does not.
Nova Lite can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Nova Lite
License
Usage and distribution terms
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.1 Community License, while Nova Lite uses a proprietary license.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Llama 3.1 Community License
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23, while Nova Lite was released on 2024-11-20.
Nova Lite is 4 months newer than Llama 3.1 405B Instruct.
Jul 23, 2024
2.2 years ago
Nov 20, 2024
1.8 years ago
4mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is available from Lambda, DeepInfra, Fireworks, Bedrock, Together, Hyperbolic, Google, Replicate. Nova Lite is available from Bedrock.
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Nova Lite
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Nova Lite side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Nova Lite.