# Llama 3.1-8B vs Qwen Max

> Qwen Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 34.4 to 22.8 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.1-8B costs 49× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen Max's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/llama-3-1-8b-vs-qwen-max
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 20

## Summary

- They share 20 benchmarks with published results for both. Llama 3.1-8B scores higher in 0 categories and Qwen Max in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Qwen Max leads 30.3 to 8.0.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is MATH Level 5: 22.9% for Llama 3.1-8B and 67.2% for Qwen Max.
- Llama 3.1-8B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.08 per million input/output tokens, against $1.60 / $6.40 for Qwen Max.
- Llama 3.1-8B accepts more context: 128K tokens versus 33K.
- Llama 3.1-8B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Llama 3.1-8B | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Meta | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 22.8 | 34.4 |
| Rank | 347 | 226 |
| Context | 128K | 33K |
| Input $/M | $0.05 | $1.60 |
| Output $/M | $0.08 | $6.40 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Llama 3.1-8B: 19.9 (#335)
- Qwen Max: 30.3 (#288)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-8B | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1195 | 1288 |
| Aider Polyglot | — | 21.8% |
| SciCode | 13.2% | — |
| WeirdML | 1.7% | — |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 32.8% | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 40.5% | — |
| HumanEval+ | 62.8% | — |
| MBPP+ | 55.6% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Llama 3.1-8B: 22.3 (#123)
- Qwen Max: —

| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-8B | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 25.8% | — |
| BALROG | 15.1% | — |

## Reasoning

- Llama 3.1-8B: 14.5 (#316)
- Qwen Max: 24.1 (#154)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-8B | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1175 | 1270 |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
| DTBench | 50.9% | — |
| LMCA | 5.4% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 116.48 | — |
| PIQA | 81.2% | — |

## Math

- Llama 3.1-8B: 9.5 (#311)
- Qwen Max: 21.0 (#272)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-8B | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 1.7% | 16.1% |
| LMArena Math | 1179 | 1275 |
| MATH Level 5 | 22.9% | 67.2% |
| Omni-MATH | 13.7% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | — | 1% |
| GSM8K | 82.4% | — |

## Knowledge

- Llama 3.1-8B: 8.0 (#302)
- Qwen Max: 30.3 (#222)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-8B | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 27% | 56.1% |
| LMArena Expert | 1144 | 1248 |
| MMLU-Pro | 40.6% | — |
| GPQA (HELM) | 24.7% | — |
| BoolQ | 82.8% | — |
| MMLU | 56.1% | — |

## Multilingual

- Llama 3.1-8B: 34.2 (#244)
- Qwen Max: 42.0 (#197)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-8B | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1148 | 1263 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1151 | 1254 |
| LMArena French | 1176 | 1329 |
| LMArena German | 1144 | 1254 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1061 | 1205 |
| LMArena Korean | 1053 | 1141 |
| LMArena Russian | 1158 | 1274 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1169 | 1290 |

## Instruction Following

- Llama 3.1-8B: 59.1 (#253)
- Qwen Max: 66.7 (#203)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-8B | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1159 | 1262 |
| IFEval | 74.3% | — |

## Long Context

- Llama 3.1-8B: 35.8 (#233)
- Qwen Max: 39.4 (#175)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-8B | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1182 | 1289 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | — | 66.7% |

## Writing & Preference

- Llama 3.1-8B: 29.9 (#285)
- Qwen Max: 48.0 (#200)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-8B | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1187 | 1282 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1154 | 1248 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1172 | 1277 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 713 | — |
| WildBench | 68.7% | — |

## FAQ

### Is Llama 3.1-8B better than Qwen Max?

Qwen Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 34.4 to 22.8 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.1-8B costs 49× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen Max's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Llama 3.1-8B or Qwen Max?

Llama 3.1-8B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.08 per million output tokens; Qwen Max lists at $1.60 and $6.40.

### Is Llama 3.1-8B or Qwen Max better for coding?

Qwen Max scores higher on coding benchmarks: 30.3 versus 19.9 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Llama 3.1-8B does, with 128K tokens against 33K.

### How many benchmarks do Llama 3.1-8B and Qwen Max share?

20 benchmarks have published results for both models. Llama 3.1-8B has 43 scored results on Noometry and Qwen Max has 23.