Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct vs Llama Guard 4 12B
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct (2026) and Llama Guard 4 12B (2025) are general-purpose language models from AI at Meta. Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct ships a not-yet-sourced 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 $0.24/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is safer overall; choose Llama Guard 4 12B when provider fit matters.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2026-01-01 | 2025-04-05 |
| Context window | — | 164K |
| Parameters | — | — |
| Architecture | - | decoder only |
| License | Proprietary | Open Source |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct | Llama Guard 4 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.24/1M tokens | $0.18/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.97/1M tokens | $0.18/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct | Llama Guard 4 12B |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Function calling | No | No |
| Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on multimodal input: Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct. 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, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct lists $0.24/1M input and $0.97/1M 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 $0.28 per million blended tokens. Availability is 1 providers versus 3, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct when provider fit are central to the workload. Choose Llama Guard 4 12B when provider fit, lower input-token cost, 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.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct or Llama Guard 4 12B?
Llama Guard 4 12B is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct costs $0.24/1M input and $0.97/1M 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 Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct or Llama Guard 4 12B open source?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is listed under Proprietary. 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 multimodal input, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct or Llama Guard 4 12B?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 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.
Which is better for structured outputs, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct or Llama Guard 4 12B?
Both Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct and Llama Guard 4 12B expose structured outputs. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface.
Where can I run Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct and Llama Guard 4 12B?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is available on AWS Bedrock. 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.
When should I pick Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct over Llama Guard 4 12B?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is safer overall; choose Llama Guard 4 12B when provider fit matters. If your workload also depends on provider fit, start with Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct; if it depends on provider fit, run the same evaluation with Llama Guard 4 12B.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-05-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.