Grok 3-mini vs Llama 3.1 8B (Groq): Pricing, Benchmarks & Verdict (2026)

Pricing verified Apr 8, 2026

⚡ Quick Answer

Compare Grok 3-mini and Llama 3.1 8B (Groq) across pricing, benchmarks, and capabilities.

Updated: April 8, 2026 · ✓ Pricing verified

Side-by-Side Comparison

FeatureGrok 3-miniLlama 3.1 8B (Groq)
ProviderxAIGroq
Input Price / 1M tokens$0.200$0.050
Output Price / 1M tokens$0.800$0.080
Context Window
128K
128K
Max Output Tokens
4,096
4,096
Arena ELO
1,175
1,120
Coding ELO1,190N/A
TTFT (ms)
130
150
Tokens/sec
140
100
MultimodalNoNo
JSON ModeYesYes
Function CallingYesYes
VisionNoNo
When to Use Grok 3-mini

Grok 3-mini excels at cost-effective, general-purpose tasks.

Strengths:

  • Very cheap
  • Fast
  • Large context

Best for:

cost-effectivegeneral-purpose
When to Use Llama 3.1 8B (Groq)

Llama 3.1 8B (Groq) excels at fast-inference, cost-effective tasks.

Strengths:

  • Insanely fast
  • Super cheap
  • Best for real-time

Best for:

fast-inferencecost-effective

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