Grok 3 Mini vs Llama 3.1 70B

Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026

Grok 3 Mini

xAI

Cost-effective xAI model for high-volume tasks. Good balance of capability and affordability.

Input$0.300/M
Output$0.500/M
Context128K tokens
Best ForHigh-volume tasks, simple coding, cost-sensitive projects
Benchmark50/100

Llama 3.1 70B

Meta

Meta's mid-size Llama 3.1. Strong general performance with open weights for custom deployment.

Input$0.200/M
Output$0.400/M
Context128K tokens
Best ForGeneral AI tasks, custom deployment, fine-tuning

Cost Comparison by Scenario

Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.

ScenarioGrok 3 MiniLlama 3.1 70BSavings
Small Script (1K lines) $0.03 $0.02 Llama 3.1 70B saves <$0.01 (25%)
Medium Feature (10K lines) $0.21 $0.15 Llama 3.1 70B saves $0.05 (27%)
Large Project (50K lines) $1.02 $0.75 Llama 3.1 70B saves $0.27 (27%)
Code Review (5K lines) $0.07 $0.04 Llama 3.1 70B saves $0.02 (31%)

Verdict

Llama 3.1 70B wins on both price and performance — $0.200/M input with a benchmark score of N/A/100.

For most developers, this is the clear choice between these two models.

Compare with Other Models