Llama Guard 2 8B vs ShieldGemma 9B
Llama Guard 2 8B (2024) and ShieldGemma 9B (2024) are compact production models from AI at Meta and Google DeepMind. Llama Guard 2 8B ships a 8k-token context window, while ShieldGemma 9B ships a 8k-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. It focuses on practical selection signals rather than broad model-family marketing.
ShieldGemma 9B is safer overall; choose Llama Guard 2 8B when provider fit matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Llama Guard 2 8B | ShieldGemma 9B |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | provider-routed production | general production evaluation |
| Decision fit | Classification | Classification |
| Context window | 8k | 8k |
| Cheapest output | $0.25/1M tokens | - |
| Provider routes | 3 tracked | 1 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Llama Guard 2 8B has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Llama Guard 2 8B for Classification.
- Local decision data tags ShieldGemma 9B for Classification.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Llama Guard 2 8B
$103
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Replicate API
ShieldGemma 9B
Unavailable
No complete token price in local provider data
Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Llama Guard 2 8B and ShieldGemma 9B; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for ShieldGemma 9B and Llama Guard 2 8B; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-04-18 | 2024-07-01 |
| Context window | 8k | 8k |
| Parameters | 8B | 9B |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Decoder Only |
| License | Llama 2 Community | Gemma |
| Openness | Open weights | Open weights |
| Weights | Available | Unknown |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: conditional |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2023-03 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Llama Guard 2 8B | ShieldGemma 9B |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.05/1M tokens | - |
| Output price | $0.25/1M tokens | - |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Llama Guard 2 8B | ShieldGemma 9B |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| JSON / Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | No | No |
| 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.
Continue comparing
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Popular comparisons for Llama Guard 2 8B
Popular comparisons for ShieldGemma 9B
Last reviewed: 2026-07-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.