ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct vs Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct

Too close to call on our weighted score (Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 46, Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 44). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Meta

    Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct

    Released Jul 23, 2024

    44/100
    • ECI125.9
    • Price$0.72 / $0.72
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct

  2. Meta

    Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct

    Released Jul 23, 2024

    46/100
    • ECI116.6
    • Price$0.152 / $0.167
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 46/100, Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 44/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct for raw capability and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityLlama-3.1-70B-InstructCapabilities Index (ECI): Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 125.9 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.6
  • Lowest priceLlama-3.1-8B-InstructLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct $0.156 · Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct $0.72 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameLlama-3.1-70B-Instruct 128,000 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsLlama-3.1-70B-Instruct: Text · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightLlama-3.1-70B-InstructLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%4836
Price25%5788
Inputs & features15%2525
Context window10%2424
Overall100%44/10046/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct vs Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama-3.1-70B-InstructMetaLlama-3.1-8B-InstructMeta
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)125.9 (best)116.6
ECI rank#136 of 148 (best)#145 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions44.2% (best)27.0%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics3.6% (best)1.7%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.72$0.152 (best)
Output$0.72$0.167 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.72$0.156 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 5 providersMedian of 9 providers
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output4,096 tokens4,096 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model ID——
API providers59 (best)
ReleasedJul 23, 2024Jul 23, 2024
Knowledge cutoffDec 2023Dec 2023
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct$8.64
  • Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct$1.85
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct or Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 46/100, Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 44/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct for raw capability and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct or Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is cheaper at $0.152 input / $0.167 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers). Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct costs $0.72 input / $0.72 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.156 per million tokens for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct versus $0.72 for Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct (4.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 125.9 (#136 of 148) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.6 (#145 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (121.0–128.1 vs 106.3–121.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 44.2%, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 27.0%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct 3.6%, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 1.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct share the same 128,000-token context window. Maximum output per response: Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct up to 4,096, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct up to 4,096 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct accepts text; Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct is the newest, released Jul 23, 2024. Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct came out Jul 23, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct Dec 2023, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct Dec 2023.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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