Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Qwen2.5-72B
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct (2024) and Qwen2.5-72B (2025) are compact production models from AI at Meta and Alibaba. Llama 3.1 405B Instruct ships a 128k-token context window, while Qwen2.5-72B ships a 128k-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.
Qwen2.5-72B is safer overall; choose Llama 3.1 405B Instruct when provider fit matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct | Qwen2.5-72B |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | provider-routed production | tool-calling agents |
| Decision fit | RAG, Long context, and Classification | RAG, Agents, and Long context |
| Context window | 128k | 128k |
| Cheapest output | $2.40/1M tokens | - |
| Provider routes | 11 tracked | 0 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
- Llama 3.1 405B Instruct uniquely exposes Structured outputs in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Llama 3.1 405B Instruct for RAG, Long context, and Classification.
- Qwen2.5-72B uniquely exposes JSON / Tool use in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Qwen2.5-72B for RAG, Agents, and Long context.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
$2,520
Cheapest tracked route/tier: AWS Bedrock
Qwen2.5-72B
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 3.1 405B Instruct and Qwen2.5-72B; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Check replacement coverage for Structured outputs before moving production traffic.
- Qwen2.5-72B adds JSON / JSON / Tool use in local capability data.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Qwen2.5-72B and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Check replacement coverage for JSON / JSON / Tool use before moving production traffic.
- Llama 3.1 405B Instruct adds Structured outputs in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-07-23 | 2025-10-10 |
| Context window | 128k | 128k |
| Parameters | 405B | 72B |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | - |
| License | Llama 3 Community | Apache 2.0OSI-approved |
| Openness | Open weights | Open source |
| Weights | Available | Available |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: permitted |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2023-12 | 2024-09 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct | Qwen2.5-72B |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $2.40/1M tokens | - |
| Output price | $2.40/1M tokens | - |
| Providers | - |
Capabilities
| Capability | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct | Qwen2.5-72B |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| JSON / Tool use | No | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | 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
Popular comparisons for Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
Popular comparisons for Qwen2.5-72B
Last reviewed: 2026-07-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.