Falcon 180B vs Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
Falcon 180B (2023) and Granite 3.3 8B Instruct (2025) are compact production models from Technology Innovation Institute (TII) and IBM Research. Falcon 180B ships a not-yet-sourced context window, while Granite 3.3 8B Instruct ships a 128k-token context window. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is safer overall; choose Falcon 180B when provider fit matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Falcon 180B | Granite 3.3 8B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | provider-routed production | tool-calling agents and provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Classification | RAG, Agents, and Long context |
| Context window | — | 128k |
| Cheapest output | - | $0.25/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 2 tracked | 2 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 rows | 0 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- Local decision data tags Falcon 180B for Classification.
- Granite 3.3 8B Instruct has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Granite 3.3 8B Instruct uniquely exposes Function calling and Tool use in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Granite 3.3 8B Instruct for RAG, Agents, and Long context.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Falcon 180B
Unavailable
No complete token price in local provider data
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
$86.50
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Replicate API
Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Falcon 180B and Granite 3.3 8B Instruct; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Granite 3.3 8B Instruct adds Function calling and Tool use in local capability data.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and Falcon 180B; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Check replacement coverage for Function calling and Tool use before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2023-11-28 | 2025-03-01 |
| Context window | — | 128k |
| Parameters | 180B | 8B |
| Architecture | decoder only | decoder only |
| License | Apache 2.0(OSI) | Apache 2.0(OSI) |
| Openness | Open source | Open source |
| Commercial use | Commercial use allowed | Commercial use allowed |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | 2024-04 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Falcon 180B | Granite 3.3 8B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | - | $0.03/1M tokens |
| Output price | - | $0.25/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Falcon 180B | Granite 3.3 8B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | No | Yes |
| Tool use | No | Yes |
| Structured outputs | No | No |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on function calling: Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and tool use: Granite 3.3 8B Instruct. 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.
Pricing coverage is uneven: Falcon 180B has no token price sourced yet and Granite 3.3 8B Instruct has $0.03/1M input tokens. Provider availability is 2 tracked routes versus 2. Treat unknown pricing as an integration gap, then verify the route you will actually call before estimating production spend.
Choose Falcon 180B when provider fit are central to the workload. Choose Granite 3.3 8B Instruct when provider fit 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. It also helps separate model capability from provider packaging, which can change cost and latency. For teams standardizing a stack, that distinction is often the difference between a benchmark win and a reliable deployment.
FAQ
Is Falcon 180B or Granite 3.3 8B Instruct open source?
Falcon 180B is listed under Apache 2.0. Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is listed under Apache 2.0. 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 function calling, Falcon 180B or Granite 3.3 8B Instruct?
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct has the clearer documented function calling signal in this comparison. If function calling is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for tool use, Falcon 180B or Granite 3.3 8B Instruct?
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct has the clearer documented tool use signal in this comparison. If tool use is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Falcon 180B and Granite 3.3 8B Instruct?
Falcon 180B is available on Alibaba Cloud PAI-EAS and Scale AI GenAI Platform. Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is available on NVIDIA NIM and Replicate API. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
When should I pick Falcon 180B over Granite 3.3 8B Instruct?
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is safer overall; choose Falcon 180B when provider fit matters. If your workload also depends on provider fit, start with Falcon 180B; if it depends on provider fit, run the same evaluation with Granite 3.3 8B Instruct.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-05-19. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.