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Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs Nemotron 3 Ultra

Signal-by-Signal Comparison
SignalLlama 3.1 8B InstructDeltaNemotron 3 Ultra
Capabilities
50
-17
67
Benchmarks
44
+44
0
Pricing
100
+2
98
Context window size
81
-5
86
Recency
0
-100
100
Output Capacity
81
-3
84
Overall Result
2 wins
of 6
4 wins
Nemotron 3 Ultra wins 4 of 6 signals

Score History

Score History (32 data points)
Llama 3.1 8B InstructNemotron 3 Ultra
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

44.5

current score

Leader

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

right now

Nemotron 3 Ultra

40

current score

LMMarketCap.com
Interactive Price Comparison
100Kcalls/month
1,000tokens (~1,333 chars)
500tokens (~667 chars)

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Meta

Best Value
Per request$0.000090
Daily$0.30
Monthly$9.00
Annual$108.00

Nemotron 3 Ultra

NVIDIA

Per request$0.001800
Daily$6.00
Monthly$180.00
Annual$2160.00

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct saves you $171.00/month

That's $2052.00/year compared to Nemotron 3 Ultra at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.

95% cheaper
Choose Llama 3.1 8B Instruct for cost optimization

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct pricing:
Input:$0.05/M tokens
Output:$0.08/M tokens
Nemotron 3 Ultra pricing:
Input:$0.60/M tokens
Output:$2.40/M tokens
Winner
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Meta

45

Composite Score

Nemotron 3 Ultra

NVIDIA

40

Composite Score

Signal-by-Signal Comparison
MetricLlama 3.1 8B InstructNemotron 3 UltraWinner
Overall Score
45
40
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Rank#231#313
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Quality Rank#231#313
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Adoption Rank#231#313
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Parameters8B550B--
Context Window131K262K
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Pricing$0.05/$0.08/M$0.60/$2.40/M--
Signal Scores
Capabilities
50
67
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Benchmarks
44
--
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Pricing
100
98
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Context window size
81
86
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Recency
0
100
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Output Capacity
81
84
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Benchmark Head-to-Head(6 benchmarks)
Llama 3.1: 0Nemotron 3: 0
Llama 3.1
Nemotron 3
Normalized 0-100%
MMLU-Pro
30.37%-
HumanEval
69.5%-
IFEval
72.05%-
BBH
30.85%-
Arena Elo
1211-
BigCodeBench
32.8%-
Benchmark Interpretation

Our score (0-100) is driven by benchmark performance (90%) from Arena Elo ratings, MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations. Capabilities and context window serve as tiebreakers (10%). Learn more about our methodology.

Llama 3.1 8B InstructEntry Level

Scores 45/100 (rank #231), placing it in the top 21% of all 290 models tracked.

Raw Quality0/100
Cost Efficiency0/100
Speed0/100
Nemotron 3 UltraEntry Level

Scores 40/100 (rank #313), placing it in the top -8% of all 290 models tracked.

Raw Quality0/100
Cost Efficiency0/100
Speed0/100

With only a 5-point gap, these models are in the same performance tier. The practical difference in output quality is minimal - your choice should depend on pricing, latency requirements, and specific feature needs.

When to Use Each Model

Choose Llama 3.1 8B Instruct when you need:

  • High-volume production workloads where API costs must be minimized
  • Self-hosted deployments where you need full control over the model

Choose Nemotron 3 Ultra when you need:

  • Processing long documents or large codebases (262K token context)
  • Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
  • Self-hosted deployments where you need full control over the model
Cost-Performance Analysis
Llama 3.1 8B InstructBest Value
Input cost$0.05/M tokens
Output cost$0.08/M tokens
Cost per quality point$0.003
Est. monthly (1M tokens/day)$1.95
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Input cost$0.60/M tokens
Output cost$2.40/M tokens
Cost per quality point$0.075
Est. monthly (1M tokens/day)$45.00

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct offers 96% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $1.95/month with Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs $45.00/month with Nemotron 3 Ultra - a $43.05 monthly difference.

Latency & Speed
Llama 3.1 8B InstructFaster
Speed score0/100
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Speed score0/100

Both models have comparable response speeds. For most applications, the latency difference is negligible.

When latency matters most: Interactive chatbots, IDE code completion, real-time translation, and user-facing applications where response time directly impacts experience. For batch processing, background summarization, or offline analysis, latency is less critical.

Example Use Cases

Code generation & review

Based on overall model capabilities and architecture for coding tasks like generating functions, debugging, and refactoring

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Customer support chatbot

Suitable for user-facing chat with competitive response times. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Long document analysis

Larger context window (262K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass

Nemotron 3 Ultra

Batch data extraction

Lower output pricing ($0.08/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Creative writing & content

Higher overall composite score (45/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Which Should You Choose?
Our recommendation:
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has a moderate advantage with a 4.5-point lead in composite score. It wins on more signal dimensions, but Nemotron 3 Ultra has specific strengths that could make it the better choice for certain workflows.

by Meta

  • Choose for Quality - Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
  • Choose for Cost - 96% lower pricing; better value at scale
  • Choose for Reliability - Higher uptime and faster response speeds
  • Choose for Prototyping - Stronger community support and better developer experience
  • Choose for Production - Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale

by NVIDIA

Consider for specialized use cases.

Capability Comparison
CapabilityLlama 3.1 8B InstructNemotron 3 Ultra
Vision (Image Input)
Function Calling
Streaming
JSON Mode
Reasoningdiffers
Web Search
Image Output
Monthly Cost Calculator
1,000tokens (600 in / 400 out)
100requests/day (3,000/month)

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

Meta

Best Value
$0.1860
estimated monthly cost

Nemotron 3 Ultra

NVIDIA

$3.96
estimated monthly cost

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct saves you $3.77/month

That's 95% cheaper than Nemotron 3 Ultra at 1,000 tokens/request and 100 requests/day.

Assumes 60% input / 40% output token ratio per request. Actual costs may vary based on your usage pattern.

Parameters & Context
ParameterLlama 3.1 8B InstructNemotron 3 Ultra
Context Window131K262K
Max Output Tokens117,964182,520
Open SourceYesYes
CreatedJul 23, 2024Jun 4, 2026
Last updated: 13m ago

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Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs Nemotron 3 Ultra (2026) | LM Market Cap