# Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Llama 3.2 3B

> Claude Sonnet 5.5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 61.9 to 28.9 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.2 3B costs 33× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Claude Sonnet 5.5's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5-vs-llama-3-2-3b
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 12

## Summary

- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores higher in 9 categories and Llama 3.2 3B in 0 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads 87.9 to 32.4.
- Llama 3.2 3B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.33 per million input/output tokens, against $2 / $10 for Claude Sonnet 5.5.
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 131K.
- Llama 3.2 3B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | Meta |
| Noometry Index | 61.9 | 28.9 |
| Rank | 10 | 321 |
| Context | 1M | 131K |
| Input $/M | $2 | $0.05 |
| Output $/M | $10 | $0.33 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |

## Coding

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 67.3 (#6)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 27.6 (#319)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1513 | 1098 |
| FrontierCode | 52.1% | — |
| CursorBench | 55.5% | — |
| LMArena WebDev | 1774 | — |
| FrontierSWE | 61.9% | — |
| SciCode | 61% | — |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | — | 23.4% |
| BigCodeBench Complete | — | 28.3% |
| ALE-Bench | 1,819 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 45.0 (#16)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 20.1 (#143)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 75.5% | — |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 21.9% |
| BALROG | — | 10.1% |

## Reasoning

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 54.0 (#28)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 21.0 (#228)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1495 | 1095 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 80.5% | — |
| CritPt | 31.4% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 65% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 165.03 | — |

## Math

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 87.9 (#6)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 32.4 (#214)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1510 | 1126 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 88.8% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 80.5% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 100% | — |
| ProofBench | 100% | — |
| FrontierMath Erdős | 2.9% | — |

## Knowledge

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 66.0 (#12)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 29.7 (#235)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1540 | 1090 |
| GPQA Diamond | 95.6% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 46.5% | — |

## Multimodal

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 51.5 (#6)
- Llama 3.2 3B: —

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1289 | — |
| Furniture Assembly | 75% | — |

## Multilingual

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 55.3 (#30)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 26.2 (#281)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1452 | 1019 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1522 | 1017 |
| LMArena Russian | 1451 | 949 |
| LMArena German | — | 1056 |

## Instruction Following

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 78.3 (#11)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 56.0 (#275)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1495 | 1089 |

## Long Context

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 45.9 (#28)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 33.4 (#261)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1498 | 1100 |

## Writing & Preference

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 66.0 (#40)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 24.7 (#307)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1471 | 1110 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1465 | 1094 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1474 | 1105 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 595 |

## FAQ

### Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 better than Llama 3.2 3B?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 61.9 to 28.9 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.2 3B costs 33× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Claude Sonnet 5.5's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Llama 3.2 3B?

Llama 3.2 3B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.33 per million output tokens; Claude Sonnet 5.5 lists at $2 and $10.

### Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Llama 3.2 3B better for coding?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 67.3 versus 27.6 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 does, with 1M tokens against 131K.

### How many benchmarks do Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Llama 3.2 3B share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Claude Sonnet 5.5 has 32 scored results on Noometry and Llama 3.2 3B has 18.