Llama 3.1 70B vs Llama 3.1 8B: token pricing & cost compared (July 2026)

How Llama 3.1 70B (Meta) and Llama 3.1 8B (Meta) actually compare on price — input, output, and total monthly cost at the MAU you care about. Updated against live OpenRouter pricing.

Llama 3.1 70B

Input: $0.40 / 1M tokens
Output: $0.40 / 1M tokens
Output / Input ratio: 1.0×
Context window: 131.072K

Llama 3.1 8B

Input: $0.02 / 1M tokens
Output: $0.03 / 1M tokens
Output / Input ratio: 1.5×
Context window: 131.072K

The short answer

Llama 3.1 8B is cheaper across the board for typical workloads.

Token pricing side-by-side

Llama 3.1 70B
Llama 3.1 8B

Cost at your usage

Avg input tokens / call

Avg output tokens / call

Calls per active user / day: 5

Active days / month: 20

MAU: 1,000

Llama 3.1 70B

Per call

$0.00040

Per user / mo

$0.0400

Total / mo

$40

Llama 3.1 8B

Per call

$0.00003

Per user / mo

$0.0025

Total / mo

Llama 3.1 8B is cheaper by $0.0375/user/month — a saving of $38/month at 1,000 MAU.

Total monthly bill across MAU

Llama 3.1 70B
Llama 3.1 8B

Same usage profile applied to both models; only the per-token price differs.

Run this against your real numbers

The mini-calculator above is a preview. Use the full tools to model power-user blast radius, gross margin, and 12-month spend forecasts.

Other comparisons

Llama 3.1 70B vs Llama 3.3 70B

Comparing Llama 3.1 70B vs Llama 3.1 8B on price alone never tells the whole story — output-token weighting, context length, and your usage profile change the answer dramatically. Use the calculators below for the full picture.