# Llama 3.2 3B vs Qwen3 32B

> Qwen3 32B is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.2 to 28.9 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.2 3B costs 10× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 32B's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/llama-3-2-3b-vs-qwen3-32b
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 14

## Summary

- They share 14 benchmarks with published results for both. Llama 3.2 3B scores higher in 1 category and Qwen3 32B in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Qwen3 32B leads 52.9 to 24.7.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard: 21.9% for Llama 3.2 3B and 48.7% for Qwen3 32B.
- Llama 3.2 3B is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.33 per million input/output tokens, against $0.70 / $2.80 for Qwen3 32B.

## Snapshot

| | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen3 32B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Meta | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 28.9 | 39.2 |
| Rank | 321 | 172 |
| Context | 131K | 131K |
| Input $/M | $0.05 | $0.70 |
| Output $/M | $0.33 | $2.80 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Llama 3.2 3B: 27.6 (#319)
- Qwen3 32B: 37.7 (#190)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen3 32B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1098 | 1358 |
| Aider Polyglot | — | 40% |
| SciCode | — | 35.4% |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 23.4% | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 28.3% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Llama 3.2 3B: 20.1 (#143)
- Qwen3 32B: 32.6 (#62)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen3 32B |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 21.9% | 48.7% |
| BALROG | 10.1% | — |

## Reasoning

- Llama 3.2 3B: 21.0 (#228)
- Qwen3 32B: 20.2 (#241)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen3 32B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1095 | 1334 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | — | 54.9% |
| CritPt | — | 0.3% |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 5% |
| DTBench | — | 67.5% |
| LMCA | — | 17.3% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 138.51 |

## Math

- Llama 3.2 3B: 32.4 (#214)
- Qwen3 32B: 39.7 (#99)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen3 32B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1126 | 1399 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 66.9% |

## Knowledge

- Llama 3.2 3B: 29.7 (#235)
- Qwen3 32B: 40.0 (#125)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen3 32B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1090 | 1362 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 65.7% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.9% |

## Multilingual

- Llama 3.2 3B: 26.2 (#281)
- Qwen3 32B: 45.6 (#167)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen3 32B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1019 | 1317 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1017 | 1357 |
| LMArena German | 1056 | 1341 |
| LMArena Russian | 949 | 1311 |

## Instruction Following

- Llama 3.2 3B: 56.0 (#275)
- Qwen3 32B: 68.9 (#179)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen3 32B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1089 | 1305 |

## Long Context

- Llama 3.2 3B: 33.4 (#261)
- Qwen3 32B: 43.8 (#87)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen3 32B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1100 | 1327 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | — | 74.2% |

## Writing & Preference

- Llama 3.2 3B: 24.7 (#307)
- Qwen3 32B: 52.9 (#163)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B | Qwen3 32B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1110 | 1340 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1094 | 1297 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1105 | 1331 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 595 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Llama 3.2 3B better than Qwen3 32B?

Qwen3 32B is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.2 to 28.9 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.2 3B costs 10× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 32B's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Llama 3.2 3B or Qwen3 32B?

Llama 3.2 3B is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.33 per million output tokens; Qwen3 32B lists at $0.70 and $2.80.

### Is Llama 3.2 3B or Qwen3 32B better for coding?

Qwen3 32B scores higher on coding benchmarks: 37.7 versus 27.6 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Both accept 131K tokens.

### How many benchmarks do Llama 3.2 3B and Qwen3 32B share?

14 benchmarks have published results for both models. Llama 3.2 3B has 18 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3 32B has 26.