AI model comparison

Llama 4 Scout vs Llama 3.2 1B Instruct

Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.

Llama 4 Scout 17B Instruct (16E) is a mixture-of-experts (MoE) language model developed by Meta, activating 17 billion parameters out of a total of 109B.

Input / 1M
$0.10
Output / 1M
$0.30
Context
1.31M

Llama 3.2 1B is a 1-billion-parameter language model focused on efficiently performing natural language tasks, such as summarization, dialogue, and multilingual text analysis.

Input / 1M
$0.03
Output / 1M
$0.20
Context
60K

At a glance

Quick verdict

How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.

Lower price

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Llama 3.2 1B Instruct

2.3x cheaper for a typical chat

Higher intelligence score

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Llama 4 Scout

8.1 vs 4.8 on Artificial Analysis

Larger context window

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Llama 4 Scout

1.31M vs 60K tokens

Newer release

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Llama 4 Scout

Released April 5, 2025

Benchmarks

Benchmark scores

Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.

Intelligence index

meta-llama logoLlama 4 Scout8.1
meta-llama logoLlama 3.2 1B Instruct4.8

Coding index

meta-llama logoLlama 4 Scout8.2
meta-llama logoLlama 3.2 1B InstructNot available

Agentic index

meta-llama logoLlama 4 Scout0.5
meta-llama logoLlama 3.2 1B InstructNot available

Pricing

Llama 4 Scout vs Llama 3.2 1B Instruct API pricing

Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.

Metricmeta-llama logoLlama 4 Scoutmeta-llama logoLlama 3.2 1B Instruct
Input tokensPer 1M tokens$0.10$0.03
Output tokensPer 1M tokens$0.30$0.20
Cached input (read)Per 1M tokensNot availableNot available
Cache writePer 1M tokensNot availableNot available

What it costs in practice

Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.

Chat message

2K in, 500 out

meta-llama logoLlama 4 Scout$0.35
meta-llama logoLlama 3.2 1B Instruct$0.15

Coding task

30K in, 4K out

meta-llama logoLlama 4 Scout$4.20
meta-llama logoLlama 3.2 1B Instruct$1.61

Long document summary

150K in, 2K out

meta-llama logoLlama 4 Scout$15.60
meta-llama logoLlama 3.2 1B Instruct$4.45

Specs

Context window and capabilities

How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.

Metricmeta-llama logoLlama 4 Scoutmeta-llama logoLlama 3.2 1B Instruct
Context window1.31M tokens60K tokens
Max output16K tokens54K tokens
Input typesImage, TextText
Output typesTextText
Reasoning effort levelsNot availableNot available
Default reasoning effortNot availableNot available
Release dateApril 5, 2025September 25, 2024

Features

Supported features

API features available for each model.

Metricmeta-llama logoLlama 4 Scoutmeta-llama logoLlama 3.2 1B Instruct
Tool callingSupportedNot supported
Structured outputsSupportedNot supported
JSON modeSupportedNot supported
ReasoningNot supportedNot supported
TemperatureSupportedSupported
Stop sequencesSupportedSupported
Deterministic seedSupportedSupported
Verbosity controlNot supportedNot supported

Our take

Llama 3.2 1B Instruct is 2.3x cheaper for a typical chat. Llama 4 Scout scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (8.1 vs 4.8). Llama 4 Scout has the larger context window (1.31M vs 60K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is Llama 4 Scout or Llama 3.2 1B Instruct cheaper?

Llama 3.2 1B Instruct is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Llama 3.2 1B Instruct costs $0.03 per 1M input tokens and $0.20 per 1M output tokens, while Llama 4 Scout costs $0.10 per 1M input tokens and $0.30 per 1M output tokens.

Which has a bigger context window, Llama 4 Scout or Llama 3.2 1B Instruct?

Llama 4 Scout supports up to 1.31M tokens of context, compared with 60K for Llama 3.2 1B Instruct.

Is Llama 4 Scout smarter than Llama 3.2 1B Instruct?

On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Llama 4 Scout scores 8.1 and Llama 3.2 1B Instruct scores 4.8, putting Llama 4 Scout ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.

Can I use Llama 4 Scout and Llama 3.2 1B Instruct at the same time?

Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Llama 4 Scout and Llama 3.2 1B Instruct answer side by side and keep the better response.

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Why choose? Ask both.

Send one prompt to Llama 4 Scout and Llama 3.2 1B Instruct at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.