Model Comparison
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct vs o3Which is better in 2026?
o3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Llama 3.2 90B Instruct is 9.7x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Llama 3.2 90B Instruct vs o3 — which is better?
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct (by Meta) and o3 (by OpenAI) 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 90B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while o3 is better at 4 benchmarks (GPQA, MathVista, MMMU, MMMU-Pro). o3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Llama 3.2 90B Instruct is roughly 9.7x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
o3 also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Llama 3.2 90B Instruct if…
- cost matters — it's about 9.7x cheaper per token
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose o3 if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 4 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while o3 is better at 4 benchmarks (GPQA, MathVista, MMMU, MMMU-Pro).
o3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Llama 3.2 90B Instruct ($0.35/1M tokens) is 5.7x cheaper than o3 ($2.00/1M tokens).
For output processing, Llama 3.2 90B Instruct ($0.40/1M tokens) is 20.0x cheaper than o3 ($8.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, o3 is more expensive than Llama 3.2 90B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
o3 accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to Llama 3.2 90B Instruct's 128,000 tokens. Llama 3.2 90B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while o3 is limited to 100,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Llama 3.2 90B Instruct and o3 support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct
o3
License
Usage and distribution terms
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.2, while o3 uses a proprietary license.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Llama 3.2
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct was released on 2024-09-25, while o3 was released on 2025-04-16.
o3 is 7 months newer than Llama 3.2 90B Instruct.
Sep 25, 2024
1.9 years ago
Apr 16, 2025
1.3 years ago
6mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
o3 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-05-31, while Llama 3.2 90B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm o3's training data extends to 2024-05-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Llama 3.2 90B Instruct's cutoff date.
—
May 2024
Provider Availability
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Bedrock, Fireworks, Together, Hyperbolic. o3 is available from OpenAI.
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct
o3
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
o3
View detailsOpenAI
Llama 3.2 90B Instructo3Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Llama 3.2 90B Instruct and o3 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Llama 3.2 90B Instruct vs o3.