Llama 3 70B Instruct vs Llama 3.1 70B Instruct
Llama 3 70B Instruct (2024) and Llama 3.1 70B Instruct (2024) are compact production models from AI at Meta. Llama 3 70B Instruct ships a 8k-token context window, while Llama 3.1 70B Instruct ships a 128k-token context window. On HumanEval, Llama 3.1 70B Instruct leads by 11.5 pts. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Pick Llama 3.1 70B Instruct for coding; token pricing is tied, so keep Llama 3 70B Instruct only for already-validated prompts or route constraints.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Llama 3 70B Instruct | Llama 3.1 70B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | provider-routed production | provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Coding, Classification, and JSON / Tool use | Coding, RAG, and Long context |
| Context window | 8k | 128k |
| Cheapest output | $0.40/1M tokens | $0.40/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 18 tracked | 13 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 2 shared | HumanEval leader |
Decision tradeoffs
- Llama 3 70B Instruct has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Llama 3 70B Instruct for Coding, Classification, and JSON / Tool use.
- Llama 3.1 70B Instruct holds a shared-benchmark lead on HumanEval, ahead by 11.5 points.
- Llama 3.1 70B Instruct has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Local decision data tags Llama 3.1 70B Instruct for Coding, RAG, and Long context.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Llama 3 70B Instruct
$420
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Hyperbolic AI Inference
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct
$420
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Hyperbolic AI Inference
Estimated monthly gap: $0.00. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on OctoAI API (Deprecated), Together AI, and Fireworks AI; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Cheapest tracked output pricing is tied, so migration risk shifts to quality, latency, and provider packaging.
- Provider overlap exists on AWS Bedrock, Microsoft Foundry, and NVIDIA NIM; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Cheapest tracked output pricing is tied, so migration risk shifts to quality, latency, and provider packaging.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-04-18 | 2024-07-23 |
| Context window | 8k | 128k |
| Parameters | 70B | 70B |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Decoder Only |
| License | Llama 3 Community | Llama 3 Community |
| Openness | Open weights | Open weights |
| Weights | Available | Available |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: conditional |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2023-12 | 2023-12 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Llama 3 70B Instruct | Llama 3.1 70B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.40/1M tokens | $0.40/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.40/1M tokens | $0.40/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Llama 3 70B Instruct | Llama 3.1 70B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| JSON / Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Llama 3 70B Instruct | Llama 3.1 70B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| HumanEval | 72.6 | 84.1 |
| Massive Multitask Language Understanding | 82.0 | 86.0 |
Continue comparing
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Last reviewed: 2026-07-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.