Grok-3 vs Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Grok-3 (2025) and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct (2024) are frontier reasoning models from xAI and AI at Meta. Grok-3 ships a 131k-token context window, while Llama 3.1 405B Instruct ships a 128k-token context window. On pricing, Grok-3 costs $0.80/1M input tokens versus $2.40/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Grok-3 is ~200% cheaper at $0.80/1M; pay for Llama 3.1 405B Instruct only for provider fit.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Grok-3 | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents | provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Agents | RAG, Long context, and Classification |
| Context window | 131k | 128k |
| Cheapest output | $2.40/1M tokens | $2.40/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 4 tracked | 11 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Grok-3 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Grok-3 uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Grok-3 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
- Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
- 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 route or tier on this page.
Grok-3
$1,240
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Chutes AI
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
$2,520
Cheapest tracked route/tier: AWS Bedrock
Estimated monthly gap: $1,280. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on Microsoft Foundry; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Cheapest tracked output pricing is tied, so migration risk shifts to quality, latency, and provider packaging.
- Check replacement coverage for Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning before moving production traffic.
- Provider overlap exists on Microsoft Foundry; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Cheapest tracked output pricing is tied, so migration risk shifts to quality, latency, and provider packaging.
- Grok-3 adds Vision, Multimodal, and Reasoning in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-02-17 | 2024-07-23 |
| Context window | 131k | 128k |
| Parameters | — | 405B |
| Architecture | - | Decoder Only |
| License | Proprietary | Llama 3 Community |
| Openness | Proprietary | Open weights |
| Weights | Not released | Available |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: conditional |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-04 | 2023-12 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Grok-3 | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.80/1M tokens | $2.40/1M tokens |
| Output price | $2.40/1M tokens | $2.40/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Grok-3 | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Yes | No |
| Multimodal | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| JSON / Tool use | Yes | No |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.
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Last reviewed: 2026-07-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.