Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct are closely matched at 14.7 and 13.9 on the LLM Stats Score. Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is 4.8x cheaper per token.
Meta · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 14.7 and 13.9.
In the 3 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct wins 3; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is roughly 4.8x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct also accepts a larger context window (131,072 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 value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 3 exact shared results
Choose Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
- cost matters — it's about 4.8x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 131,072 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 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 · 46 for Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct outperforms in 3 benchmarks (IFEval, MMLU, MMLU-Pro), while Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.
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 11.1x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct ($0.08/1M tokens).
For output processing, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct ($0.89/1M tokens) is 1.8x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is more expensive than Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has 396.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct, making it 4400.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct accepts 131,072 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 Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is limited to 32,768 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.1 405B Instruct does not.
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.1 Community License, while Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct 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 VL 8B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is 14 months newer than Llama 3.1 405B Instruct.
Jul 23, 2024
2.2 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
12 months ago
1.2yr 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 VL 8B Instruct is available from Novita, DeepInfra.
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct.