Model Comparison
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct vs Llama 4 ScoutWhich is better in 2026?
Llama 4 Scout significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Llama 3.2 11B Instruct is 2.7x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Llama 3.2 11B Instruct vs Llama 4 Scout — which is better?
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct (by Meta) and Llama 4 Scout (by Meta) 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 3.2 11B Instruct outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MATH), while Llama 4 Scout is better at 7 benchmarks (ChartQA, DocVQA, GPQA, MathVista, MGSM, MMLU, MMMU). Llama 4 Scout significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Llama 3.2 11B Instruct is roughly 2.7x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Llama 4 Scout also accepts a larger context window (10,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Llama 3.2 11B Instruct if…
- cost matters — it's about 2.7x cheaper per token
Choose Llama 4 Scout if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 7 of 8 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 10,000,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MATH), while Llama 4 Scout is better at 7 benchmarks (ChartQA, DocVQA, GPQA, MathVista, MGSM, MMLU, MMMU).
Llama 4 Scout significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Llama 3.2 11B Instruct ($0.05/1M tokens) is 1.6x cheaper than Llama 4 Scout ($0.08/1M tokens).
For output processing, Llama 3.2 11B Instruct ($0.05/1M tokens) is 6.0x cheaper than Llama 4 Scout ($0.30/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Llama 4 Scout is more expensive than Llama 3.2 11B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Llama 4 Scout has 98.4B more parameters than Llama 3.2 11B Instruct, making it 928.3% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Llama 4 Scout accepts 10,000,000 input tokens compared to Llama 3.2 11B Instruct's 128,000 tokens. Llama 4 Scout can generate longer responses up to 10,000,000 tokens, while Llama 3.2 11B Instruct is limited to 128,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Llama 3.2 11B Instruct and Llama 4 Scout support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct
Llama 4 Scout
License
Usage and distribution terms
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.2 Community License, while Llama 4 Scout uses Llama 4 Community License Agreement.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Llama 3.2 Community License
Open weights
Llama 4 Community License Agreement
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct was released on 2024-09-25, while Llama 4 Scout was released on 2025-04-05.
Llama 4 Scout is 6 months newer than Llama 3.2 11B Instruct.
Sep 25, 2024
1.8 years ago
Apr 5, 2025
1.3 years ago
6mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-31, while Llama 4 Scout's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Llama 3.2 11B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-12-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Llama 4 Scout's cutoff date.
Dec 2023
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Provider Availability
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Sambanova, Bedrock, Groq, Together, Fireworks. Llama 4 Scout is available from DeepInfra, Lambda, Novita, Groq, Fireworks, Together.
Llama 3.2 11B Instruct
Llama 4 Scout
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Llama 3.2 11B Instruct and Llama 4 Scout side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Llama 3.2 11B Instruct vs Llama 4 Scout.