Llama 3 70B Instruct vs Qwen3.5-122B-A10B
Llama 3 70B Instruct (2024) and Qwen3.5-122B-A10B (2026) are frontier reasoning models from AI at Meta and Alibaba. Llama 3 70B Instruct ships a 8K-token context window, while Qwen3.5-122B-A10B ships a 262K-token context window. On pricing, Qwen3.5-122B-A10B costs $0.26/1M input tokens versus $0.4/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit. It focuses on practical selection signals rather than broad model-family marketing.
Qwen3.5-122B-A10B is ~54% cheaper at $0.26/1M; pay for Llama 3 70B Instruct only for provider fit.
Specs
| Released | 2024-04-18 | 2026-02-24 |
| Context window | 8K | 262K |
| Parameters | 70B | 122B |
| Architecture | decoder only | mixture of experts |
| License | Open Source | Apache 2.0 |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Llama 3 70B Instruct | Qwen3.5-122B-A10B | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.4/1M tokens | $0.26/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.4/1M tokens | $2.08/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Llama 3 70B Instruct | Qwen3.5-122B-A10B | |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ||
| Multimodal | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Function calling | ||
| Tool use | ||
| Structured outputs | ||
| Code execution |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on reasoning mode: Qwen3.5-122B-A10B, function calling: Qwen3.5-122B-A10B, and tool use: Qwen3.5-122B-A10B. 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 3 70B Instruct lists $0.4/1M input and $0.4/1M output tokens, while Qwen3.5-122B-A10B lists $0.26/1M input and $2.08/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Llama 3 70B Instruct lower by about $0.41 per million blended tokens. Availability is 18 providers versus 1, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Llama 3 70B Instruct when provider fit and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Qwen3.5-122B-A10B when reasoning depth, larger context windows, and lower input-token cost 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 has a larger context window, Llama 3 70B Instruct or Qwen3.5-122B-A10B?
Qwen3.5-122B-A10B supports 262K tokens, while Llama 3 70B Instruct supports 8K tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Llama 3 70B Instruct or Qwen3.5-122B-A10B?
Qwen3.5-122B-A10B is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Llama 3 70B Instruct costs $0.4/1M input and $0.4/1M output tokens. Qwen3.5-122B-A10B costs $0.26/1M input and $2.08/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Llama 3 70B Instruct or Qwen3.5-122B-A10B open source?
Llama 3 70B Instruct is listed under Open Source. Qwen3.5-122B-A10B is listed under Apache 2.0. 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 reasoning mode, Llama 3 70B Instruct or Qwen3.5-122B-A10B?
Qwen3.5-122B-A10B has the clearer documented reasoning mode signal in this comparison. If reasoning mode is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for function calling, Llama 3 70B Instruct or Qwen3.5-122B-A10B?
Qwen3.5-122B-A10B has the clearer documented function calling signal in this comparison. If function calling is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Llama 3 70B Instruct and Qwen3.5-122B-A10B?
Llama 3 70B Instruct is available on GCP Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, Microsoft Foundry, NVIDIA NIM, and DeepInfra. Qwen3.5-122B-A10B is available on OpenRouter. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-04-24. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.