Llama 3.2 90B Instruct vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Llama 3.2 90B Instruct is 1.3x cheaper per token.
Meta · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Llama 3.2 90B Instruct is roughly 1.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct also accepts a larger context window (128,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Llama 3.2 90B Instruct
- cost matters — it's about 1.3x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 128,000 token context window
Choose Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Llama 3.2 90B Instruct ($0.35/1M tokens) is 2.3x more expensive than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct ($0.15/1M tokens).
For output processing, Llama 3.2 90B Instruct ($0.40/1M tokens) is 3.8x cheaper than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct ($1.50/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is more expensive than Llama 3.2 90B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct has 10.0B more parameters than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct, making it 12.5% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct accepts 128,000 input tokens compared to Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct's 65,536 tokens. Llama 3.2 90B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is limited to 65,536 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct does not.
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.2, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Llama 3.2
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct was released on 2024-09-25, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct was released on 2025-09-10.
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is 12 months newer than Llama 3.2 90B Instruct.
Sep 25, 2024
1.9 years ago
Sep 10, 2025
11 months ago
11mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Bedrock, Fireworks, Together, Hyperbolic. Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct is available from Novita.
Llama 3.2 90B Instruct
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Llama 3.2 90B Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Llama 3.2 90B Instruct vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Instruct.