Llama 3 8B benchmarks, pricing and specs
Llama 3 8B is a Meta model released on April 18, 2024 that takes text input and produces text. It is now listed as a legacy model. Its price is not published and accepts up to 8,192 tokens of context. It scores 1224 Elo on Arena Text (Arena, measured October 8, 2026).
- Context window
- 8K
- Arena Text
- 1224 Elo
Data verified October 12, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-12
Key facts
- Provider
- Meta
- Model family
- Llama 3
- Release date
- April 18, 2024
- Status
- Legacy
- Access
- open weights
- API model id
- Not reported
- Context window
- 8,192 tokens
- Max output
- Not reported
- Input
- text
- Output
- text
- Task families
- text
- Declared capabilities
- reasoning
Llama 3 8B pricing
Independent benchmark results
Scores come from independent evaluators that ran the model themselves, pinned to a dated snapshot. Rank is among current models in the same snapshot. Meta's own launch figures are listed under strengths with the publisher named, because they are not measured the same way.
| Benchmark | Score | Rank | Measured | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arena Text | 1224 Elo | Not ranked | October 8, 2026 | Arena · 2026-10-12 |
Strengths, cautions and best uses
Strengths
- Llama 3 8B records open-weight access for text inputs and a published 8,192-token context window
Cautions
- This record is marked legacy; confirm current availability and migration requirements before adoption
Best for
- Historical small open-weight text deployment baselines
Alternatives to Llama 3 8B
The closest current textmodels by price. The cheapest model that scores as well or better is listed first; failing that, the cheapest one within 3% of the benchmark's scale.
DeepSeek-R1
- 174 points higher on Arena Text, 1398 vs 1224
- 128K context window vs 8K
- From DeepSeek
Gemini 2.5 Pro
- 221 points higher on Arena Text, 1445 vs 1224
- 1.05M context window vs 8K
- From Google
GPT-4.1
- 191 points higher on Arena Text, 1415 vs 1224
- 1.05M context window vs 8K
- From OpenAI
GPT-4.1 mini
- 159 points higher on Arena Text, 1383 vs 1224
- 1.05M context window vs 8K
- From OpenAI
Other Llama 3 models
Llama 3 8B FAQ
What is the context window of Llama 3 8B?
Llama 3 8B accepts up to 8,192 tokens of context. That ranks #45 of 45 current text models by context length.
How does Llama 3 8B score on independent benchmarks?
Llama 3 8B scores 1224 Elo on Arena Text (Arena, measured October 8, 2026). These are independent evaluations, not Meta's own launch figures.
Is Llama 3 8B open source or API only?
Llama 3 8B is released as open weights that you can run yourself.
What are the best alternatives to Llama 3 8B?
The closest current alternatives by price and measured performance are DeepSeek-R1 (174 points higher on Arena Text, 1398 vs 1224), Gemini 2.5 Pro (221 points higher on Arena Text, 1445 vs 1224), GPT-4.1 (191 points higher on Arena Text, 1415 vs 1224) and GPT-4.1 mini (159 points higher on Arena Text, 1383 vs 1224).
Sources
- Introducing Meta Llama 3 · Meta · official · verified August 6, 2026
- Arena leaderboard dataset (lmarena-ai/leaderboard-dataset) · Arena · independent · verified October 12, 2026 · CC-BY-4.0
Cite this page
Van Data Team. "Llama 3 8B Benchmarks, Pricing and Specs." AI Model Benchmark Dataset 2026-10-12. https://vandatateam.com/ai-model-benchmarks/llama-3-8b
Reuse the data: JSON · CSV · or explore every model in the AI model benchmark comparison.
Production evaluation
Deciding whether Llama 3 8B fits your workload?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We test the finalists on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- Evaluation cases and acceptance thresholds tied to real work
- Model routing, fallbacks and cost controls