Granite 3.1 8B Instruct vs Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Granite 3.1 8B Instruct (2024) and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct (2024) are compact production models from IBM Research and AI at Meta. Granite 3.1 8B Instruct ships a 128K-token context window, while Llama 3.1 405B Instruct ships a 128K-token context window. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit. It focuses on practical selection signals rather than broad model-family marketing.
Granite 3.1 8B Instruct is safer overall; choose Llama 3.1 405B Instruct when provider fit matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Granite 3.1 8B Instruct | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Decision fit | Long context | RAG, Long context, and Classification |
| Context window | 128K | 128K |
| Cheapest output | - | $2.4/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 0 tracked | 11 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 rows | 0 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- Local decision data tags Granite 3.1 8B Instruct for Long context.
- Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Llama 3.1 405B Instruct uniquely exposes Structured outputs in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Llama 3.1 405B Instruct for RAG, Long context, and Classification.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output prices on this page.
Granite 3.1 8B Instruct
Unavailable
No complete token price in local provider data
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
$2,520
Cheapest tracked route: AWS Bedrock
Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Granite 3.1 8B Instruct and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Llama 3.1 405B Instruct adds Structured outputs in local capability data.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Granite 3.1 8B Instruct; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Check replacement coverage for Structured outputs before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-12-18 | 2024-07-23 |
| Context window | 128K | 128K |
| Parameters | 8B | 405B |
| Architecture | Dense decoder-only transformer: 40 layers, 4096 embed, GQA 32/8 heads, RoPE, SwiGLU | decoder only |
| License | Open Source | Open Source |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Granite 3.1 8B Instruct | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | - | $2.4/1M tokens |
| Output price | - | $2.4/1M tokens |
| Providers | - |
Capabilities
| Capability | Granite 3.1 8B Instruct | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | No | No |
| Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | No | Yes |
| Code execution | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on structured outputs: Llama 3.1 405B 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: Granite 3.1 8B Instruct has no token price sourced yet and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has $2.4/1M input tokens. Provider availability is 0 tracked routes versus 11. Treat unknown pricing as an integration gap, then verify the route you will actually call before estimating production spend.
Choose Granite 3.1 8B Instruct when provider fit are central to the workload. Choose Llama 3.1 405B Instruct when provider fit and broader provider choice 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
Which has a larger context window, Granite 3.1 8B Instruct or Llama 3.1 405B Instruct?
Granite 3.1 8B Instruct supports 128K tokens, while Llama 3.1 405B Instruct supports 128K tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Is Granite 3.1 8B Instruct or Llama 3.1 405B Instruct open source?
Granite 3.1 8B Instruct is listed under Open Source. Llama 3.1 405B 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 structured outputs, Granite 3.1 8B Instruct or Llama 3.1 405B Instruct?
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct 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 Granite 3.1 8B Instruct and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct?
Granite 3.1 8B Instruct is available on the tracked providers still being sourced. Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is available on OctoAI API (Deprecated), Together AI, Fireworks AI, IBM watsonx, and Scale AI GenAI Platform. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
When should I pick Granite 3.1 8B Instruct over Llama 3.1 405B Instruct?
Granite 3.1 8B Instruct is safer overall; choose Llama 3.1 405B Instruct when provider fit matters. If your workload also depends on provider fit, start with Granite 3.1 8B Instruct; if it depends on provider fit, run the same evaluation with Llama 3.1 405B Instruct.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-05-16. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.