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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3 8B vs Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct comes out ahead, 62 to 56 on our weighted score, though Qwen3 8B is 9% cheaper per token.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 8B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    56/100
    • ECI136.2
    • Price$0.18 / $0.70
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 8B
  2. Our pick

    Meta

    Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

    Released Apr 5, 2025

    62/100
    • ECI129.7
    • Price$0.225 / $0.69
    • Context10M
    Full specs Remove Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is our pick

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Qwen3 8B (56). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 8B wins on capability and price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3 8BCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 8B 136.2 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.7
  • Lowest priceQwen3 8BQwen3 8B $0.31 · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct $0.341 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 10,000,000 · Qwen3 8B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsLlama 4 Scout 17B InstructQwen3 8B: Text · Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 8BLlama 4 Scout 17B Instruct
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6152
Price25%7472
Inputs & features15%3550
Context window10%24100
Overall100%56/10062/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3 8B vs Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 8BAlibaba (Qwen)Llama 4 Scout 17B InstructMeta
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)136.2 (best)129.7
ECI rank#113 of 148 (best)#126 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions56.8% (best)51.8%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics56.1% (best)7.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.18 (best)$0.225
Output$0.70$0.69 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.31 (best)$0.341
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 4 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens10,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output8,192 tokens16,384 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model IDqwen3-8b—
API providers14 (best)
ReleasedApr 28, 2025Apr 5, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Aug 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.

  • Qwen3 8B$3.20
  • Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct$3.63
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 8B or Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct?

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Qwen3 8B (56). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 8B wins on capability and price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3 8B or Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct?

Qwen3 8B is cheaper at $0.18 input / $0.70 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct costs $0.225 input / $0.69 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.31 per million tokens for Qwen3 8B versus $0.341 for Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (1.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3 8B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 8B 136.2 (#113 of 148) and Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 129.7 (#126 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (129.7–138.1 vs 124.8–131.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3 8B 56.8%, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 51.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3 8B 56.1%, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct 7.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 8B and Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3 8B 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 4 Scout 17B Instruct has the largest context window at 10,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 8B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 8B up to 8,192, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 8B accepts text; Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct accepts text and images. Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Qwen3 8B is the newest, released Apr 28, 2025. Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct came out Apr 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 8B Apr 2025, Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct Aug 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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