Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Qwen3.8-27B
Qwen3.8-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Meta · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8-27B is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Qwen3.8-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Based on current benchmark, 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 Qwen3.8-27B
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8-27B is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Qwen3.8-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has 377.2B more parameters than Qwen3.8-27B, making it 1357.8% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Llama 3.1 405B Instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Llama 3.1 405B Instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3.8-27B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.1 405B Instruct does not.
Qwen3.8-27B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Qwen3.8-27B
License
Usage and distribution terms
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.1 Community License, while Qwen3.8-27B 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 Qwen3.8-27B was released on 2026-08-14.
Qwen3.8-27B is 25 months newer than Llama 3.1 405B Instruct.
Jul 23, 2024
2.1 years ago
Aug 14, 2026
1 weeks ago
2.1yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Qwen3.8-27B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Qwen3.8-27B.