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Head-to-head comparison

Llama 4 Maverick vs Llama Guard 4 12B

Llama 4 Maverick (Meta) and Llama Guard 4 12B (Meta) 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 17 August 2026

As of 17 August 2026, Llama 4 Maverick holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#92 vs #229); and Llama Guard 4 12B is 4.4× cheaper per output token ($0.18/1M vs $0.80/1M).

Which should you choose?

Choose Llama 4 Maverick if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #92 against #229 (25.3 vs 0.0 points).
  • you want provider choice — 5 listed API providers against 2.

Choose Llama Guard 4 12B if…

  • API cost matters — $0.18/1M output tokens against $0.80/1M, about 4.4× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.18/1M against $0.20/1M.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Llama Guard 4 12B was listed 30 April 2025, Llama 4 Maverick 5 April 2025.

Llama 4 Maverick vs Llama Guard 4 12B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Llama 4 Maverick and Llama Guard 4 12B
FieldLlama 4 MaverickMetaLlama Guard 4 12BMeta
ModelCap Index position#92#229
Index score25.30.0
EvidenceMeasuredEstimated
Input price / 1M tokens$0.20$0.18
Output price / 1M tokens$0.80$0.18
Context window1M tokens1M tokens
Max output tokens16K16K
API providers listed52
Weight accessGated accessGated access
Input modalitiesText, ImageImage, Text
First listed5 April 202530 April 2025
PublisherMetaMeta

Evidence: 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards · publisher corpus prior · leave-one-anchor-out calibrated. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Llama 4 Maverick vs Llama Guard 4 12B

Public benchmark boards where Llama 4 Maverick or Llama Guard 4 12B has a published result
BoardLlama 4 MaverickLlama Guard 4 12BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)13731365–1380—Only one result
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize Foundation0.0%—Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis14.5intelligence-index—Only 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 4 Maverick vs Llama Guard 4 12B: common questions

Is Llama 4 Maverick better than Llama Guard 4 12B?

Llama 4 Maverick ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #92 against #229. 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 4 Maverick cheaper than Llama Guard 4 12B?

Llama Guard 4 12B is cheaper on output tokens: $0.18/1M against $0.80/1M. Input tokens are $0.20/1M for Llama 4 Maverick and $0.18/1M for Llama Guard 4 12B. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Llama 4 Maverick or Llama Guard 4 12B?

Both publish a 1M-token context window.

Which is better for coding, Llama 4 Maverick or Llama Guard 4 12B?

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 4 Maverick and Llama Guard 4 12B open-weight models?

Llama 4 Maverick: Gated access. Llama Guard 4 12B: Gated access. 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 4 Maverick and Llama Guard 4 12B?

ModelCap currently lists 5 API providers for Llama 4 Maverick and 2 for Llama Guard 4 12B, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Llama 4 Maverick vs Llama Guard 4 12B comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 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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