Jamba 1.5 Large vs Llama 4 8B
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Jamba 1.5 Large specs · Llama 4 8B specs- PriceJamba 1.5 Large
Jamba 1.5 Large publishes pricing ($8.00 / 1M output tokens) while Llama 4 8B does not.
- Context windowJamba 1.5 Large
Jamba 1.5 Large accepts 256K tokens vs 128K, 2.0× 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.
- ModalitiesTie
Both handle text.
- OpennessTie
Both ship open weights, self-host either one.
On balance Jamba 1.5 Large edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Llama 4 8B's 0. Jamba 1.5 Large publishes pricing ($8.00 / 1M output tokens) while Llama 4 8B does not. Jamba 1.5 Large accepts 256K tokens vs 128K, 2.0× the room for long documents and codebases.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Both ship open weights, self-host either one.
Llama 4 8B is the newer of the two, released 8 months after Jamba 1.5 Large, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Jamba 1.5 Large is usually picked for long context and rag workloads, while Llama 4 8B sees more deployments in local llm and on device. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Jamba 1.5 Large | Llama 4 8B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | AI21 | Meta |
| Released | Aug 2024 | Apr 2025 |
| Modalities | text | text |
| Context window | 256K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $2.00 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Output · 1M | $8.00 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | , |
| Open weights | Yes (Jamba Open Model License) | Yes (Llama 4 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$18.00 vs ,
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$180 vs ,
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$348 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.
- Jamba 1.5 Large$0.600
- Llama 4 8BPricing unavailable
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
Jamba 1.5 Large fits when…
- 256k context
- Efficient long-context inference
- Open weights
- Long-context tasks, handles 256K tokens vs 128K for Llama 4 8B.
Llama 4 8B fits when…
- Runs on consumer laptops
- Broad tooling support
- Apache-2-adjacent permissiveness for most uses
Consider Jamba 1.5 Mini
Smaller hybrid SSM-Transformer model, fast and efficient at long contexts.
Frequently asked
Is Jamba 1.5 Large or Llama 4 8B 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?
Jamba 1.5 Large accepts 256K tokens vs 128K for Llama 4 8B.Is Jamba 1.5 Large or Llama 4 8B better for coding?
Both Jamba 1.5 Large and Llama 4 8B 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?
Both ship with open weights. Jamba 1.5 Large is licensed under Jamba Open Model License; Llama 4 8B under Llama 4 Community License.When were Jamba 1.5 Large and Llama 4 8B released?
Jamba 1.5 Large was released by AI21 on 2024-08-22. Llama 4 8B was released by Meta on 2025-04-05.
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