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Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs LongCat-2.5

LongCat-2.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 50.0 to -3.1. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is 23.3x cheaper per token.

Meta · Meituan · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

LongCat-2.5 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 50.0 to -3.1, ranking #20 overall.

On price, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is roughly 23.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

LongCat-2.5 also accepts a larger context window (1,048,576 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 8B Instruct

  • cost matters — it's about 23.3x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose LongCat-2.5

  • overall performance matters — it scores 50.0 and ranks #20 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Meta
LongCat-2.5
Meituan
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
-3.1
#380
50.0
#20
Reasoning
-4.1
#378
48.3
#21
Coding
-2.4
#285
38.6
#27
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$0.02 / M
$0.30 / M
Output price
$0.03 / M
$1.20 / M
Context window
131,072
1,048,576

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
LongCat-2.5
Math
-2.6#335
37.2#37
Tool use
17.0#95
30.2#15
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

18 reported for Llama 3.1 8B Instruct · 23 for LongCat-2.5

No common benchmarks found

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and LongCat-2.5don't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct costs less

For input processing, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct ($0.02/1M tokens) is 15.0x cheaper than LongCat-2.5 ($0.30/1M tokens).

For output processing, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct ($0.03/1M tokens) is 40.0x cheaper than LongCat-2.5 ($1.20/1M tokens).

In conclusion, LongCat-2.5 is more expensive than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Tue Nov 03 2026 • llm-stats.com
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Input tokens$0.02
Output tokens$0.03
Best providerDeepinfra
Meituan
LongCat-2.5
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$1.20
Best providerMeituan
Notice missing or incorrect data?

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

1592.0B diff

LongCat-2.5 has 1592.0B more parameters than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct, making it 19900.0% larger.

Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
8.0Bparameters
Meituan
LongCat-2.5
1.6Tparameters
8.0B
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
1600.0B
LongCat-2.5

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

LongCat-2.5 accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Llama 3.1 8B Instruct's 131,072 tokens. Both models can generate responses up to 131,072 tokens.

Meta
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Meituan
LongCat-2.5
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Tue Nov 03 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

LongCat-2.5 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.1 8B Instruct does not.

LongCat-2.5 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

LongCat-2.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23, while LongCat-2.5 was released on 2026-11-01.

LongCat-2.5 is 28 months newer than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct.

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Jul 23, 2024

2.3 years ago

LongCat-2.5

Nov 1, 2026

0 days ago

2.3yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-31, while LongCat-2.5's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Llama 3.1 8B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-12-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without LongCat-2.5's cutoff date.

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Dec 2023

LongCat-2.5

—

Provider Availability

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Lambda, Groq, Sambanova, Cerebras, Hyperbolic, Together, Fireworks, Bedrock. LongCat-2.5 is available from Meituan.

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.02/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.04/1M
lambda logo
Lambda
Input Price:Input: $0.03/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.03/1M
groq logo
Groq
Input Price:Input: $0.05/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.08/1M
sambanova logo
Sambanova
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.20/1M
cerebras logo
Cerebras
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.10/1M
hyperbolic logo
Hyperbolic
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.10/1M
together logo
Together
Input Price:Input: $0.20/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.20/1M
fireworks logo
Fireworks
Input Price:Input: $0.20/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.20/1M
bedrock logo
AWS Bedrock
Input Price:Input: $0.22/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.22/1M

LongCat-2.5

meituan logo
Meituan
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.20/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and LongCat-2.5 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
✓ Preferred
LongCat-2.5
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs LongCat-2.5.

Which is better, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or LongCat-2.5?

LongCat-2.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 50.0 to -3.1. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is made by Meta and LongCat-2.5 is made by Meituan. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Llama 3.1 8B Instruct compare to LongCat-2.5 in benchmarks?

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct scores GSM-8K (CoT): 84.5%, ARC-C: 83.4%, API-Bank: 82.6%, IFEval: 80.4%, BFCL: 76.1%. LongCat-2.5 scores MathVision: 96.5%, BrowseComp: 91.9%, CharXiv-R: 90.2%, Terminal-Bench 2.1: 88.4%, Video-MME: 85.2%.

Is Llama 3.1 8B Instruct cheaper than LongCat-2.5?

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is 15.0x cheaper for input tokens. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct costs $0.02/M input and $0.03/M output via deepinfra. LongCat-2.5 costs $0.30/M input and $1.20/M output via meituan.

What are the context window sizes for Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and LongCat-2.5?

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct supports 131K tokens and LongCat-2.5 supports 1.0M 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 8B Instruct and LongCat-2.5?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (-3.1 vs 50.0), context window (131K vs 1.0M), input pricing ($0.02 vs $0.30/M), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Llama 3.1 Community License vs Unknown). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and LongCat-2.5?

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is developed by Meta and LongCat-2.5 is developed by Meituan.

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