Model Comparison
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507Which is better in 2026?
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is 2.8x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 — which is better?
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct (by Meta) and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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 Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, IFEval, MMLU-Pro). Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is roughly 2.8x 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.
Choose Llama 3.1 405B Instruct if…
- you want predictable pricing at $0.89/M input and $0.89/M output
Choose Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
- cost matters — it's about 2.8x 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
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
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.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct ($0.89/1M tokens) is 5.9x more expensive than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 ($0.15/1M tokens).
For output processing, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct ($0.89/1M tokens) is 1.1x more expensive than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 ($0.80/1M 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 131,072 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
1.9 years ago
Jul 22, 2025
10 months 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 Fireworks, Novita.
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507.