Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct
Claude 3.5 Sonnet (2024) and Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct (2025) are frontier reasoning models from Anthropic and AI at Meta. Claude 3.5 Sonnet ships a 200K-token context window, while Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct ships a 328K-token context window. On pricing, Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct costs $0.08/1M input tokens versus $3/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct is ~3650% cheaper at $0.08/1M; pay for Claude 3.5 Sonnet only for coding workflow support.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-06-20 | 2025-04-05 |
| Context window | 200K | 328K |
| Parameters | 70B | 17B |
| Architecture | decoder only | mixture of experts |
| License | Unknown | Open Source |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-04 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $3/1M tokens | $0.08/1M tokens |
| Output price | $15/1M tokens | $0.3/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Yes | No |
| Multimodal | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| Function calling | Yes | No |
| Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | Yes | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on vision: Claude 3.5 Sonnet, multimodal input: Claude 3.5 Sonnet, reasoning mode: Claude 3.5 Sonnet, function calling: Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and code execution: Claude 3.5 Sonnet. Both models share structured outputs, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
For cost, Claude 3.5 Sonnet lists $3/1M input and $15/1M output tokens, while Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct lists $0.08/1M input and $0.3/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct lower by about $6.45 per million blended tokens. Availability is 6 providers versus 8, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet when coding workflow support are central to the workload. Choose Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct when long-context analysis, larger context windows, and lower input-token cost are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship. This keeps the decision grounded in measurable tradeoffs instead of brand-level assumptions.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct?
Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct supports 328K tokens, while Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports 200K tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct?
Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Claude 3.5 Sonnet costs $3/1M input and $15/1M output tokens. Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct costs $0.08/1M input and $0.3/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct open source?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is listed under Unknown. Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct is listed under Open Source. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for vision, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet has the clearer documented vision signal in this comparison. If vision is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for multimodal input, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet has the clearer documented multimodal input signal in this comparison. If multimodal input is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is available on GCP Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, Anthropic, OpenRouter, and Microsoft Foundry. Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E Instruct is available on OpenRouter, Together AI, Fireworks AI, DeepInfra, and GCP Vertex AI. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-05-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.