Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 leads the LLM Stats Score 24.2 to 14.7. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is 4.3x cheaper per token.
Meta · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 24.2 to 14.7, ranking #166 overall.
In the 3 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 wins 3; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is roughly 4.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 also accepts a larger context window (262,144 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
- you want predictable pricing at $0.89/M input and $0.89/M output
Choose Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
- overall performance matters — it scores 24.2 and ranks #166 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 3 exact shared results
- cost matters — it's about 4.3x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2025
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 · 25 for Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, IFEval, MMLU-Pro).
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 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 9.9x more expensive than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 ($0.09/1M tokens).
For output processing, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct ($0.89/1M tokens) is 1.6x more expensive than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 ($0.55/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is more expensive than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has 170.0B more parameters than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507, making it 72.3% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Llama 3.1 405B Instruct's 128,000 tokens. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is limited to 128,000 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.1 Community License, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Llama 3.1 Community License
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 was released on 2025-07-22.
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is 12 months newer than Llama 3.1 405B Instruct.
Jul 23, 2024
2.2 years ago
Jul 22, 2025
1.2 years ago
12mo 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. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is available from DeepInfra, Fireworks, Novita.
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507.