Llama 4 405B vs o4
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Llama 4 405B specs · o4 specs- PriceTie
Neither model publishes per-token API pricing.
- Context windowLlama 4 405B
Llama 4 405B accepts 256K tokens vs 200K, 1.3× 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, vision.
- OpennessLlama 4 405B
Llama 4 405B ships open weights (Llama 4 Community License); o4 is API-only.
On balance Llama 4 405B edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against o4's 0. Neither model publishes per-token API pricing. Llama 4 405B accepts 256K tokens vs 200K, 1.3× 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, vision), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Llama 4 405B ships open weights (Llama 4 Community License); o4 is API-only.
o4 is the newer of the two, released 8 months after Llama 4 405B, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Llama 4 405B is usually picked for open source llm and fine tuning workloads, while o4 sees more deployments in reasoning and math. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Llama 4 405B | o4 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Meta | OpenAI |
| Released | Apr 2025 | Dec 2025 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision |
| Context window | 256K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | Pricing not published | Pricing not published |
| Output · 1M | Pricing not published | Pricing not published |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-12 | , |
| Open weights | Yes (Llama 4 Community License) | No |
| 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, vs ,
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs ,
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, 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.
- Llama 4 405BPricing unavailable
- o4Pricing unavailable
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
Llama 4 405B fits when…
- Strongest open-weight model at launch
- Multimodal (text + vision)
- Wide hosting availability
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Llama 4 Community License).
o4 fits when…
- Exceptional performance on hard math and reasoning benchmarks
- Good at multi-step planning and verification
- Strong scientific reasoning
Consider Llama 4 70B
Meta's mid-tier Llama 4, the practical workhorse for self-hosted deployments.
Frequently asked
Is Llama 4 405B or o4 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?
Llama 4 405B accepts 256K tokens vs 200K for o4.Is Llama 4 405B or o4 better for coding?
Both Llama 4 405B and o4 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 4 405B ships open weights (Llama 4 Community License). o4 is API-only.When were Llama 4 405B and o4 released?
Llama 4 405B was released by Meta on 2025-04-05. o4 was released by OpenAI on 2025-12-15.
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