Claude Sonnet 4 vs Llama 3.2 3B
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Claude Sonnet 4 specs · Llama 3.2 3B specs- PriceClaude Sonnet 4
Claude Sonnet 4 publishes pricing ($15.00 / 1M output tokens) while Llama 3.2 3B does not.
- Context windowClaude Sonnet 4
Claude Sonnet 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesClaude Sonnet 4
Claude Sonnet 4 supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Llama 3.2 3B.
- OpennessLlama 3.2 3B
Llama 3.2 3B ships open weights (Llama 3 Community License); Claude Sonnet 4 is API-only.
On balance Claude Sonnet 4 edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Llama 3.2 3B's 1. Claude Sonnet 4 publishes pricing ($15.00 / 1M output tokens) while Llama 3.2 3B does not. Claude Sonnet 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Claude Sonnet 4 handles text, vision while Llama 3.2 3B handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Llama 3.2 3B ships open weights (Llama 3 Community License); Claude Sonnet 4 is API-only.
Claude Sonnet 4 is the newer of the two, released 8 months after Llama 3.2 3B, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Claude Sonnet 4 is usually picked for coding llm and rag workloads, while Llama 3.2 3B sees more deployments in on device and edge deployment. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Claude Sonnet 4 | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | Meta |
| Released | May 2025 | Sep 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $3.00 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Output · 1M | $15.00 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-03 | , |
| Open weights | No | Yes (Llama 3 Community License) |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
Pricing at scale
What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$31.50 vs ,
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$315 vs ,
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$540 vs ,
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Claude Sonnet 4$1.05
- Llama 3.2 3BPricing unavailable
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- SWE-bench Verified65.0
Claude Sonnet 4 fits when…
- Solid all-rounder
- Mature deployment ecosystem
- Long-context tasks, handles 200K tokens vs 128K for Llama 3.2 3B.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Llama 3.2 3B fits when…
- Runs on phones
- 128k context for its size
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Llama 3 Community License).
Consider Claude Opus 4.7
Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.
Frequently asked
Is Claude Sonnet 4 or Llama 3.2 3B cheaper?
Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.Which has the larger context window?
Claude Sonnet 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 128K for Llama 3.2 3B.Is Claude Sonnet 4 or Llama 3.2 3B better for coding?
Both Claude Sonnet 4 and Llama 3.2 3B are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.Are either of these models open source?
Llama 3.2 3B ships open weights (Llama 3 Community License). Claude Sonnet 4 is API-only.When were Claude Sonnet 4 and Llama 3.2 3B released?
Claude Sonnet 4 was released by Anthropic on 2025-05-22. Llama 3.2 3B was released by Meta on 2024-09-25.
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