DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B vs Llama Guard 4 12B
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B (2025) and Llama Guard 4 12B (2025) are frontier reasoning models from Alibaba and AI at Meta. DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B ships a 160K-token context window, while Llama Guard 4 12B ships a 164K-token context window. On pricing, Llama Guard 4 12B costs $0.18/1M input tokens versus $0.2/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Llama Guard 4 12B is safer overall; choose DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B when reasoning depth matters.
Specs
| Released | 2025-01-01 | 2025-04-05 |
| Context window | 160K | 164K |
| Parameters | 8B | — |
| Architecture | decoder only | decoder only |
| License | Open Source | Open Source |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B | Llama Guard 4 12B | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.2/1M tokens | $0.18/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.2/1M tokens | $0.18/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B | Llama Guard 4 12B | |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ||
| Multimodal | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Function calling | ||
| Tool use | ||
| Structured outputs | ||
| Code execution |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on reasoning mode: DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B and structured outputs: Llama Guard 4 12B. Both models share the core language-model surface, 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, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B lists $0.2/1M input and $0.2/1M output tokens, while Llama Guard 4 12B lists $0.18/1M input and $0.18/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Llama Guard 4 12B lower by about $0.02 per million blended tokens. Availability is 1 providers versus 3, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B when reasoning depth are central to the workload. Choose Llama Guard 4 12B 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, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B or Llama Guard 4 12B?
Llama Guard 4 12B supports 164K tokens, while DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B supports 160K tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B or Llama Guard 4 12B?
Llama Guard 4 12B is cheaper on tracked token pricing. DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B costs $0.2/1M input and $0.2/1M output tokens. Llama Guard 4 12B costs $0.18/1M input and $0.18/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B or Llama Guard 4 12B open source?
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B is listed under Open Source. Llama Guard 4 12B 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 reasoning mode, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B or Llama Guard 4 12B?
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B has the clearer documented reasoning mode signal in this comparison. If reasoning mode is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for structured outputs, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B or Llama Guard 4 12B?
Llama Guard 4 12B has the clearer documented structured outputs signal in this comparison. If structured outputs is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B and Llama Guard 4 12B?
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B is available on Fireworks AI. Llama Guard 4 12B is available on NVIDIA NIM, Replicate API, and OpenRouter. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-04-24. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.