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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct comes out ahead, 46 to 40 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    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

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

    Released Sep 19, 2024

    40/100
    • ECI129.0
    • Price$1.40 / $5.60
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is our pick

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 46/100 against Qwen2.5 72B Instruct (40). It leads on price. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen2.5 72B InstructCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 129.0 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.6
  • Lowest priceLlama-3.1-8B-InstructLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct $0.156 · Qwen2.5 72B Instruct $2.45 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen2.5 72B Instruct 131,072 · Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct: Text · Qwen2.5 72B Instruct: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightLlama-3.1-8B-InstructQwen2.5 72B Instruct
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%3652
Price25%8831
Inputs & features15%2525
Context window10%2424
Overall100%46/10040/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct vs Qwen2.5 72B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama-3.1-8B-InstructMetaQwen2.5 72B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)116.6129.0 (best)
ECI rank#145 of 148#128 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions27.0%49.2% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics1.7%8.1% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.152 (best)$1.40
Output$0.167 (best)$5.60
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.156 (best)$2.45
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output4,096 tokens8,192 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model ID—qwen2-5-72b-instruct
API providers9 (best)1
ReleasedJul 23, 2024Sep 19, 2024
Knowledge cutoffDec 2023Apr 2024
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-3.1-8B-Instruct$1.85
  • Qwen2.5 72B Instruct$25.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct or Qwen2.5 72B Instruct?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 46/100 against Qwen2.5 72B Instruct (40). It leads on price. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct or Qwen2.5 72B Instruct?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is cheaper at $0.152 input / $0.167 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers). Qwen2.5 72B Instruct costs $1.40 input / $5.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). 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 $2.45 for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct (16× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 129.0 (#128 of 148) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 116.6 (#145 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (123.8–130.7 vs 106.3–121.6), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 49.2%, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 27.0%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 8.1%, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct 1.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen2.5 72B 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?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct. Maximum output per response: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct up to 4,096, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct accepts text; Qwen2.5 72B 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?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 19, 2024. Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct came out Jul 23, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct Dec 2023, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct Apr 2024.

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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