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Head-to-head comparison

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct vs gpt-oss-20b

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct (Meta) and gpt-oss-20b (OpenAI) 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 15 September 2026

As of 15 September 2026, gpt-oss-20b holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#161 vs #166); gpt-oss-20b is 2.5× cheaper per output token ($0.13/1M vs $0.32/1M); and gpt-oss-20b ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Llama 3.3 70B Instruct if…

  • ModelCap publishes no field on which Llama 3.3 70B Instruct leads gpt-oss-20b for this pair.

Choose gpt-oss-20b if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #161 against #166 (28.0 vs 24.2 points).
  • API cost matters — $0.13/1M output tokens against $0.32/1M, about 2.5× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.03/1M against $0.10/1M.
  • you want to self-host: gpt-oss-20b ships open weights while Llama 3.3 70B Instruct is gated access.
  • you want provider choice — 13 listed API providers against 10.
  • Arena coding is your yardstick — 1369 against 1346.
  • you want the more recently listed model — gpt-oss-20b was listed 5 August 2025, Llama 3.3 70B Instruct 6 December 2024.

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct vs gpt-oss-20b: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Llama 3.3 70B Instruct and gpt-oss-20b
FieldLlama 3.3 70B InstructMetagpt-oss-20bOpenAI
ModelCap Index position#166#161
Index score24.228.0
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.10$0.03
Output price / 1M tokens$0.32$0.13
Context window131K tokens131K tokens
Max output tokens16K118K
API providers listed1013
Weight accessGated accessOpen weights
Input modalitiesTextText
First listed6 December 20245 August 2025
PublisherMetaOpenAI

Evidence: 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards · 3 public benchmark observations across 3 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Llama 3.3 70B Instruct vs gpt-oss-20b

Public benchmark boards where Llama 3.3 70B Instruct or gpt-oss-20b has a published result
BoardLlama 3.3 70B Instructgpt-oss-20bLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)13461339–135313691356–1382gpt-oss-20b
BFCL V4UC Berkeley (Gorilla)31.9Function calling—Only one result
AA Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis—9.0intelligence-index:v4.3:highOnly one result
AA τ²-Bench TelecomArtificial Analysis—60.2%tau2:telecom:dual-control:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="gpt-oss-20b (high)":reasoning=trueOnly one result
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis—11.0%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="gpt-oss-20b (high)":reasoning=trueOnly 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 3.3 70B Instruct vs gpt-oss-20b: common questions

Is Llama 3.3 70B Instruct better than gpt-oss-20b?

gpt-oss-20b ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 15 September 2026: #161 against #166. 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. Their published uncertainty intervals overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is Llama 3.3 70B Instruct cheaper than gpt-oss-20b?

gpt-oss-20b is cheaper on output tokens: $0.13/1M against $0.32/1M. Input tokens are $0.10/1M for Llama 3.3 70B Instruct and $0.03/1M for gpt-oss-20b. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens. For 1,000 requests with 2,000 input and 500 output tokens each (2M input + 0.5M output), the listed-rate estimate is $0.36 for Llama 3.3 70B Instruct versus $0.13 for gpt-oss-20b. gpt-oss-20b costs 65.3% less in this scenario. This excludes caching, batch discounts, prompt-length tiers, tool charges and retries; verify the selected endpoint before budgeting.

Which has the bigger context window, Llama 3.3 70B Instruct or gpt-oss-20b?

Both publish a 131K-token context window.

Which is better for coding, Llama 3.3 70B Instruct or gpt-oss-20b?

Arena coding: Llama 3.3 70B Instruct 1346, gpt-oss-20b 1369 — gpt-oss-20b leads.

Are Llama 3.3 70B Instruct and gpt-oss-20b open-weight models?

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct: Gated access. gpt-oss-20b: Open weights. 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 3.3 70B Instruct and gpt-oss-20b?

ModelCap currently lists 10 API providers for Llama 3.3 70B Instruct and 13 for gpt-oss-20b, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Llama 3.3 70B Instruct vs gpt-oss-20b comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 15 September 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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