Model Comparison

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Llama 3.1 70B Instruct is 3.3x cheaper per token.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

4 benchmarks

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct outperforms in 1 benchmarks (IFEval), while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, MMLU-Pro).

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Fri May 01 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct costs less

For input processing, Llama 3.1 70B Instruct ($0.20/1M tokens) is 1.1x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking ($0.18/1M tokens).

For output processing, Llama 3.1 70B Instruct ($0.20/1M tokens) is 10.4x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking ($2.09/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is more expensive than Llama 3.1 70B Instruct.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers

Fri May 01 2026 • llm-stats.com

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct

Input tokens$0.20

Output tokens$0.20

Best providerLambda

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Input tokens$0.18

Output tokens$2.09

Best providerDeepinfra

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Model Size

Parameter count comparison

61.0B diff

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct has 61.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking, making it 677.8% larger.

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct

70.0Bparameters

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

9.0Bparameters

70.0B

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct

9.0B

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Llama 3.1 70B Instruct's 128,000 tokens. Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Llama 3.1 70B Instruct is limited to 128,000 tokens.

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct

Input128,000 tokens

Output128,000 tokens

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Input262,144 tokens

Output262,144 tokens

Fri May 01 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.1 70B Instruct does not.

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct

Text

Images

Audio

Video

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Text

Images

Audio

Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.1 Community License, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking uses Apache 2.0.

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

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

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 Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is 14 months newer than Llama 3.1 70B Instruct.

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct

Jul 23, 2024

1.8 years ago

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Sep 22, 2025

7 months ago

1.2yr 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 70B Instruct is available from Lambda, DeepInfra, Hyperbolic, Groq, Cerebras, Together, Fireworks, Bedrock, Sambanova. Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is available from DeepInfra.

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct

Lambda

Input Price:Input: $0.20/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.20/1M

Deepinfra

Input Price:Input: $0.35/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.40/1M

Hyperbolic

Input Price:Input: $0.40/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.40/1M

Groq

Input Price:Input: $0.59/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.78/1M

Cerebras

Input Price:Input: $0.60/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.60/1M

Together

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

Fireworks

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

AWS Bedrock

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

Sambanova

Input Price:Input: $5.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $10.00/1M

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Deepinfra

Input Price:Input: $0.18/1MOutput Price:Output: $2.09/1M

* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct

View details

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Larger context window (262,144 tokens)

Supports multimodal inputs

Less expensive input tokens

Higher GPQA score (69.9% vs 41.7%)

Higher MMLU score (85.2% vs 83.6%)

Higher MMLU-Pro score (77.3% vs 66.4%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature	Llama 3.1 70B Instruct	Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

FAQ

Common questions about Llama 3.1 70B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Llama 3.1 70B Instruct is made by Meta and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct scores GSM-8K (CoT): 95.1%, ARC-C: 94.8%, API-Bank: 90.0%, IFEval: 87.5%, Multilingual MGSM (CoT): 86.9%. Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking scores DocVQAtest: 95.3%, ScreenSpot: 93.6%, MMLU-Redux: 88.8%, MMBench-V1.1: 87.5%, InfoVQAtest: 86.0%.

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is 1.1x cheaper for input tokens. Llama 3.1 70B Instruct costs $0.20/M input and $0.20/M output via lambda. Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking costs $0.18/M input and $2.09/M output via deepinfra.

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct supports 128K tokens and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking supports 262K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

Key differences include context window (128K vs 262K), input pricing ($0.20 vs $0.18/M), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Llama 3.1 Community License vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct is developed by Meta and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Performance Benchmarks

Arena Performance

Pricing Analysis

Model Size

Context Window

Input Capabilities

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

License

Release Timeline

Knowledge Cutoff

Provider Availability

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Outputs Comparison

Key Takeaways

Llama 3.1 70B Instruct

Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking

Detailed Comparison

FAQ

Which is better, Llama 3.1 70B Instruct or Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

How does Llama 3.1 70B Instruct compare to Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking in benchmarks?

Is Llama 3.1 70B Instruct cheaper than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

What are the context window sizes for Llama 3.1 70B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

What are the main differences between Llama 3.1 70B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?

Who makes Llama 3.1 70B Instruct and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking?