Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs Llama 3.2 3B Instruct

    Comparison

    As of August 30, 2026, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct is 99% cheaper per million tokens than Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is $0.60 / $1.80 per million input/output tokens versus Llama 3.2 3B Instruct at $0.01 / $0.02. Sources: https://build.nvidia.com/nvidia/llama-3_1-nemotron-ultra-253b-v1 and https://llama.meta.com/

    Sources: NVIDIA pricing (https://build.nvidia.com/nvidia/llama-3_1-nemotron-ultra-253b-v1); Meta pricing (https://llama.meta.com/)

    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

    NVIDIA

    $2.40blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.60

    Output

    $1.80

    131.1K ctx|Open Source
    99%
    cheaper
    Better value

    Llama 3.2 3B Instruct

    Meta

    $0.03blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.01

    Output

    $0.02

    128K ctx|Open Source
    Save $2.37 per million tokens by choosing Llama 3.2 3B Instruct over Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1.

    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs Llama 3.2 3B Instruct comparison

    Token pricing, specs, and benchmarks side by side

    Shared benchmarks

    Each bar is share of the current leader on that eval. Click a row to open the board.

    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1Llama 3.2 3B Instruct

    Score vs price

    BFCL. Left is cheaper. Up is a higher score. The line is the best score you can buy at each price.

    Best score at each priceLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
    Metric
    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
    Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
    Provider
    Provider
    NVIDIA
    Meta
    License
    Open Source
    Open Source
    Release Date
    2025-04-07
    2024-09-25
    Pricing (per 1M tokens)
    Input Price+5900%
    $0.60
    $0.01
    Output Price+8900%
    $1.80
    $0.02
    Blended (1M + 1M)
    $2.40
    $0.03
    Model Details
    Context Window
    131.1K
    128K
    Max Output Tokens
    N/A
    128K
    Knowledge Cutoff
    2023-12-01
    N/A
    Throughput
    N/A
    171.5 tok/s
    Benchmarks
    76.0%
    32.8%
    89.5%
    77.4%
    72.5%
    97%
    10%
    21.9%
    63.4%
    69.8%
    48%
    78.6%
    74.1%
    67%
    77.7%
    58.2%
    34.3%
    40.1%
    Benchmark Wins
    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 3|1 Llama 3.2 3B Instruct

    Verdict

    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs Llama 3.2 3B Instruct: the bottom line

    Llama 3.2 3B Instruct offers significantly lower pricing, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 leads on benchmark performance. Your choice depends on whether cost efficiency or raw capability matters more for your use case.

    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs Llama 3.2 3B Instruct FAQ

    Which is cheaper, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 or Llama 3.2 3B Instruct?

    As of August 30, 2026, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct is 99% cheaper on blended LLM API pricing. Llama 3.2 3B Instruct costs $0.01 per million input tokens and $0.02 per million output tokens ($0.03 blended 1M-in + 1M-out). Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 costs $0.60 / $1.80 per million tokens ($2.40 blended). Sources: https://build.nvidia.com/nvidia/llama-3_1-nemotron-ultra-253b-v1 and https://llama.meta.com/. The cheapest LLM for your app still depends on how many output tokens you generate.

    How much does Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs Llama 3.2 3B Instruct cost per million tokens?

    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 NVIDIA API pricing is $0.60 input and $1.80 output per million tokens via NVIDIA. Llama 3.2 3B Instruct Meta API pricing is $0.01 input and $0.02 output per million tokens via Meta. Use those four numbers, not ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro subscription prices, when you are comparing APIs.

    Which is better for coding, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 or Llama 3.2 3B Instruct?

    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 has a published LiveCodeBench score of 66.3%. Llama 3.2 3B Instruct does not have that eval on this page yet.

    What is the context window for Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs Llama 3.2 3B Instruct?

    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 supports a 131K token context window, while Llama 3.2 3B Instruct supports 128K tokens. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 offers a larger context window. Filling a larger window bills more input tokens, so the cheaper-per-million model can still cost more on long documents.

    Which model performs better on benchmarks, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 or Llama 3.2 3B Instruct?

    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 leads on 3 of 4 shared benchmarks versus Llama 3.2 3B Instruct's 1 wins. Check the comparison table for GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench, MMLU, HLE, and the other evals we track. Token price and benchmark score together are the usual LLM comparison, not either number alone.

    Is Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 or Llama 3.2 3B Instruct better for production use?

    Both Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 and Llama 3.2 3B Instruct are production API models. For cost-sensitive production traffic, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct has better economics on the blended 1M-in + 1M-out scale. For maximum capability, weight the benchmark table for your domain. Many production stacks route cheap models for drafts and a frontier model for the hard turn, which is usually cheaper than sending everything to the expensive API.

    Can I switch between Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 and Llama 3.2 3B Instruct in my app?

    Yes. Call Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 through NVIDIA and Llama 3.2 3B Instruct through Meta with separate API keys, or through a gateway that already wraps both. Keep prompts in tokens, not characters, when you estimate the invoice. AnotherWrapper templates can swap providers without rewriting auth and billing.

    How accurate is this Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs Llama 3.2 3B Instruct pricing data?

    List rates are the latest published NVIDIA API pricing and Meta API pricing, quoted per million tokens. Official rate sheets: https://build.nvidia.com/nvidia/llama-3_1-nemotron-ultra-253b-v1 and https://llama.meta.com/. Prompt caching, batch APIs, and committed-use discounts can change the invoice. Benchmark scores are from official publications and independent evals, updated as new numbers land.

    What is the output token limit for Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 and Llama 3.2 3B Instruct?

    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 supports up to an unspecified number of output tokens per request, while Llama 3.2 3B Instruct supports up to 128K output tokens. Output tokens are usually the expensive half of API pricing, so a higher max output cap is a capability, not a discount.

    Which model has better throughput, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 or Llama 3.2 3B Instruct?

    Llama 3.2 3B Instruct has a measured throughput of approximately 171.5 tokens/second. Throughput data for Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is not yet available. Throughput (tokens per second) and time-to-first-token are why two models with the same per-million-token price can still feel different in chat and agents.

    How do I switch the models in this Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs Llama 3.2 3B Instruct comparison?

    Use the model pickers at the top of this LLM comparison. Search any model in the index and the URL updates. Open Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 or Llama 3.2 3B Instruct from the sidebar for the single-model API pricing page, or go back to the LLM pricing table to sort by cheapest blended cost.

    Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs Llama 3.2 3B Instruct pricing

    This comparison covers API pricing, context window, throughput, and benchmark scores. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 costs $0.60/M input and $1.80/M output. Llama 3.2 3B Instruct costs $0.01/M input and $0.02/M output.

    Rank both on the LLM leaderboard, SWE-bench, and Humanity's Last Exam.

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