Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs Qwen2.5 7B Instruct
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and Qwen2.5 7B Instruct are closely matched at -2.6 and 2.5 on the LLM Stats Score. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is 13.3x cheaper per token.
Meta · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and Qwen2.5 7B Instruct are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at -2.6 and 2.5.
In the 4 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct wins 3; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is roughly 13.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
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 13.3x cheaper per token
Choose Qwen2.5 7B Instruct
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 4 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2024
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 8B Instruct · 14 for Qwen2.5 7B Instruct
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct outperforms in 1 benchmarks (IFEval), while Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, HumanEval, MMLU-Pro).
Qwen2.5 7B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of 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 8B Instruct ($0.02/1M tokens) is 15.0x cheaper than Qwen2.5 7B Instruct ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct ($0.03/1M tokens) is 10.0x cheaper than Qwen2.5 7B Instruct ($0.30/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is more expensive than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has 0.4B more parameters than Qwen2.5 7B Instruct, making it 5.1% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Both models have the same input context window of 131,072 tokens. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is limited to 8,192 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.1 Community License, while Qwen2.5 7B 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 8B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23, while Qwen2.5 7B Instruct was released on 2024-09-19.
Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is 2 months newer than Llama 3.1 8B Instruct.
Jul 23, 2024
2.1 years ago
Sep 19, 2024
2.0 years ago
1mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-31, while Qwen2.5 7B Instruct'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 Qwen2.5 7B Instruct's cutoff date.
Dec 2023
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Provider Availability
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Lambda, Groq, Sambanova, Cerebras, Hyperbolic, Together, Fireworks, Bedrock. Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is available from Together.
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Qwen2.5 7B Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and Qwen2.5 7B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs Qwen2.5 7B Instruct.