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Head-to-head comparison

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs Nemotron 3 Ultra

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (Meta) and Nemotron 3 Ultra (NVIDIA) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 18 August 2026

As of 18 August 2026, Nemotron 3 Ultra holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#42 vs #214); Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is 45× cheaper per output token ($0.08/1M vs $3.60/1M); and Nemotron 3 Ultra offers the longer context window (512K vs 131K tokens).

Which should you choose?

Choose Llama 3.1 8B Instruct if…

  • API cost matters — $0.08/1M output tokens against $3.60/1M, about 45× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.05/1M against $0.60/1M.
  • you want provider choice — 5 listed API providers against 4.

Choose Nemotron 3 Ultra if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #42 against #214 (52.9 vs 3.9 points).
  • you need the longer context window — 512K tokens against 131K.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Nemotron 3 Ultra was listed 4 June 2026, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct 23 July 2024.

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs Nemotron 3 Ultra: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and Nemotron 3 Ultra
FieldLlama 3.1 8B InstructMetaNemotron 3 UltraNVIDIA
ModelCap Index position#214#42
Index score3.952.9
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.05$0.60
Output price / 1M tokens$0.08$3.60
Context window131K tokens512K tokens
Max output tokens131K203K
API providers listed54
Weight accessGated accessRestricted license
Input modalitiesTextText
First listed23 July 20244 June 2026
PublisherMetaNVIDIA

Evidence: 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards · 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs Nemotron 3 Ultra

Public benchmark boards where Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or Nemotron 3 Ultra has a published result
BoardLlama 3.1 8B InstructNemotron 3 UltraLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)12601252–1267—Only one result
LMArena AgentLMArena—-14.6%-17.2%–-12.1%Only one result
BFCL V4UC Berkeley (Gorilla)25.8Prompt—Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis—38.3intelligence-indexOnly one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs Nemotron 3 Ultra: common questions

Is Llama 3.1 8B Instruct better than Nemotron 3 Ultra?

Nemotron 3 Ultra ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 18 August 2026: #42 against #214. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is Llama 3.1 8B Instruct cheaper than Nemotron 3 Ultra?

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is cheaper on output tokens: $0.08/1M against $3.60/1M. Input tokens are $0.05/1M for Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and $0.60/1M for Nemotron 3 Ultra. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or Nemotron 3 Ultra?

Nemotron 3 Ultra has the larger context window: 512K tokens against 131K.

Which is better for coding, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or Nemotron 3 Ultra?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and Nemotron 3 Ultra open-weight models?

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct: Gated access. Nemotron 3 Ultra: Restricted license. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and Nemotron 3 Ultra?

ModelCap currently lists 5 API providers for Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and 4 for Nemotron 3 Ultra, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs Nemotron 3 Ultra comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 18 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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