Model Comparison
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B InstructWhich is better in 2026?
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is 1.1x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Llama 3.1 70B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct — which is better?
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct (by Meta) and Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct (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 70B Instruct outperforms in 2 benchmarks (IFEval, MMLU), while Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (MMLU-Pro). Llama 3.1 70B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
On price, Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is roughly 1.1x 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.
Choose Llama 3.1 70B Instruct if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 shared benchmarks
Choose Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct if…
- cost matters — it's about 1.1x 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
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct outperforms in 2 benchmarks (IFEval, MMLU), while Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (MMLU-Pro).
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Llama 3.1 70B Instruct ($0.20/1M tokens) is 2.5x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct ($0.08/1M tokens).
For output processing, Llama 3.1 70B Instruct ($0.20/1M tokens) is 2.5x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Llama 3.1 70B 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 70B Instruct has 61.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct, making it 677.8% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct accepts 131,072 input tokens compared to Llama 3.1 70B Instruct's 128,000 tokens. Llama 3.1 70B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is limited to 32,768 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.1 70B 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 70B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Llama 3.1 70B 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 70B 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 70B Instruct.
Jul 23, 2024
1.9 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
9 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 70B Instruct is available from Lambda, DeepInfra, Hyperbolic, Groq, Cerebras, Together, Fireworks, Bedrock, Sambanova. Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct is available from Novita, DeepInfra.
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Llama 3.1 70B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct.