Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking leads the LLM Stats Score 23.8 to 14.7. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is 1.8x cheaper per token.

Meta · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking leads the overall LLM Stats Score 23.8 to 14.7, ranking #178 overall.

In the 3 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking wins 3; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is roughly 1.8x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct also accepts a larger context window (128,000 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

you process long inputs — it offers a 128,000 token context window

Choose Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

overall performance matters — it scores 23.8 and ranks #178 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 1.8x cheaper per token
you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Better token value: Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

4 shared

Index

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Math

19.3#170 · 7 evals

26.5#104 · 8 evals

Tool use

30.8#5 · 4 evals

11.0#122 · 6 evals

Finance

17.7#105 · 3 evals

27.9#36 · 5 evals

Legal

17.7#90 · 3 evals

26.3#36 · 4 evals

Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

18 reported for Llama 3.1 405B Instruct · 23 for Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

3 shared

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, IFEval, MMLU-Pro).

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Oct 02 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking costs less

For input processing, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct ($0.89/1M tokens) is 5.9x more expensive than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking ($0.15/1M tokens).

For output processing, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct ($0.89/1M tokens) is 1.7x cheaper than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking ($1.50/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is more expensive than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers

Fri Oct 02 2026 • llm-stats.com

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

Input tokens$0.89

Output tokens$0.89

Best providerLambda

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Input tokens$0.15

Output tokens$1.50

Best providerNovita

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

325.0B diff

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has 325.0B more parameters than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking, making it 406.3% larger.

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

405.0Bparameters

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

80.0Bparameters

405.0B

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

80.0B

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct accepts 128,000 input tokens compared to Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking's 65,536 tokens. Llama 3.1 405B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is limited to 65,536 tokens.

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

Input128,000 tokens

Output128,000 tokens

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Input65,536 tokens

Output65,536 tokens

Fri Oct 02 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.1 Community License, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking uses Apache 2.0.

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

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

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-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking was released on 2025-09-10.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is 14 months newer than Llama 3.1 405B Instruct.

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

Jul 23, 2024

2.2 years ago

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Sep 10, 2025

1.1 years ago

1.1yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is available from Lambda, DeepInfra, Fireworks, Bedrock, Together, Hyperbolic, Google, Replicate. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is available from Novita.

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

Lambda

Input Price:Input: $0.89/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.89/1M

Deepinfra

Input Price:Input: $1.79/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.79/1M

Fireworks

Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.00/1M

AWS Bedrock

Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.00/1M

Together

Input Price:Input: $3.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.50/1M

Hyperbolic

Input Price:Input: $4.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $4.00/1M

Google

Input Price:Input: $5.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $16.00/1M

Replicate

Input Price:Input: $9.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $9.50/1M

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Novita

Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.50/1M

* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct

✓ Preferred

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking

Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking.

Which is better, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct or Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking?

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking leads the LLM Stats Score 23.8 to 14.7. Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is made by Meta and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Llama 3.1 405B Instruct compare to Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking 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%. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking scores MMLU-Redux: 92.5%, IFEval: 88.9%, AIME 2025: 87.8%, WritingBench: 84.6%, MMLU-Pro: 82.7%.

Is Llama 3.1 405B Instruct cheaper than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking?

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is 5.9x cheaper for input tokens. Llama 3.1 405B Instruct costs $0.89/M input and $0.89/M output via lambda. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking costs $0.15/M input and $1.50/M output via novita.

What are the context window sizes for Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking?

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct supports 128K tokens and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking supports 66K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (14.7 vs 23.8), context window (128K vs 66K), input pricing ($0.89 vs $0.15/M), licensing (Llama 3.1 Community License vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking?

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is developed by Meta and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Thinking