# Llama 3.2 3B vs Qwen Plus

> Qwen Plus is the stronger model overall, scoring 36.7 to 28.4 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.2 3B costs 5.0× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen Plus's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

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

## Summary

- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Llama 3.2 3B scores higher in 2 categories and Qwen Plus in 6 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Qwen Plus leads 52.4 to 24.9.
- Llama 3.2 3B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.33 per million input/output tokens, against $0.40 / $1.20 for Qwen Plus.
- Qwen Plus accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 131K.
- Llama 3.2 3B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Meta | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 28.4 | 36.7 |
| Rank | 318 | 204 |
| Context | 131K | 1M |
| Input $/M | $0.05 | $0.40 |
| Output $/M | $0.33 | $1.20 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Llama 3.2 3B: 27.1 (#314)
- Qwen Plus: 38.3 (#163)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen Plus |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1098 | 1328 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 23.4% | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 28.3% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Llama 3.2 3B: 19.9 (#135)
- Qwen Plus: —

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 21.9% | — |
| BALROG | 10.1% | — |

## Reasoning

- Llama 3.2 3B: 20.1 (#225)
- Qwen Plus: 27.6 (#101)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen Plus |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1095 | 1317 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | — | 63.3% |
| DTBench | — | 81.1% |
| LMCA | — | 24% |

## Math

- Llama 3.2 3B: 29.9 (#213)
- Qwen Plus: 22.0 (#266)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen Plus |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1126 | 1326 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 17.8% |
| MATH Level 5 | — | 65.3% |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | — | 1.7% |

## Knowledge

- Llama 3.2 3B: 29.1 (#232)
- Qwen Plus: 27.4 (#245)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen Plus |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1090 | 1328 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 48.1% |

## Multilingual

- Llama 3.2 3B: 26.4 (#276)
- Qwen Plus: 45.3 (#170)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen Plus |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1019 | 1310 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1017 | 1347 |
| LMArena Russian | 949 | 1323 |
| LMArena German | 1056 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1251 |

## Instruction Following

- Llama 3.2 3B: 56.3 (#270)
- Qwen Plus: 69.0 (#176)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen Plus |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1089 | 1303 |

## Long Context

- Llama 3.2 3B: 33.4 (#256)
- Qwen Plus: 40.3 (#153)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen Plus |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1101 | 1325 |

## Writing & Preference

- Llama 3.2 3B: 24.9 (#302)
- Qwen Plus: 52.4 (#171)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen Plus |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1110 | 1326 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1094 | 1293 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1105 | 1336 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 595 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Llama 3.2 3B better than Qwen Plus?

Qwen Plus is the stronger model overall, scoring 36.7 to 28.4 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.2 3B costs 5.0× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen Plus's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Llama 3.2 3B or Qwen Plus?

Llama 3.2 3B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.33 per million output tokens; Qwen Plus lists at $0.40 and $1.20.

### Is Llama 3.2 3B or Qwen Plus better for coding?

Qwen Plus scores higher on coding benchmarks: 38.3 versus 27.1 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen Plus does, with 1M tokens against 131K.

### How many benchmarks do Llama 3.2 3B and Qwen Plus share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Llama 3.2 3B has 18 scored results on Noometry and Qwen Plus has 20.