Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct (2024) and Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct (2024) are compact production models from AI at Meta and Alibaba. Llama 3.1 405B Instruct ships a 128k-token context window, while Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct ships a 33k-token context window. On pricing, Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct costs $0.70/1M input tokens versus $2.40/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct is ~243% cheaper at $0.70/1M; pay for Llama 3.1 405B Instruct only for long-context analysis.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct | Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | provider-routed production | general production evaluation |
| Decision fit | RAG, Long context, and Classification | Classification and JSON / Tool use |
| Context window | 128k | 33k |
| Cheapest output | $2.40/1M tokens | $0.70/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 11 tracked | 1 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Llama 3.1 405B Instruct for RAG, Long context, and Classification.
- Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.70/1M tokens.
- Local decision data tags Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct for Classification and JSON / Tool use.
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
Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct
$735
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Together AI
Estimated monthly gap: $1,785. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on Together AI; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct is $1.70/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Provider overlap exists on Together AI; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is $1.70/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-07-23 | 2024-06-07 |
| Context window | 128k | 33k |
| Parameters | 405B | 72B |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Decoder Only |
| License | Llama 3 Community | Apache 2.0OSI-approved |
| Openness | Open weights | Open source |
| Weights | Available | Unknown |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: permitted |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2023-12 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct | Together AI Qwen2-72B-Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $2.40/1M tokens | $0.70/1M tokens |
| Output price | $2.40/1M tokens | $0.70/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct | Together AI Qwen2-72B-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
No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.
Continue comparing
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Popular comparisons for Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
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Last reviewed: 2026-07-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.