Llama 4 405B vs Qwen3-72B
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 · Qwen3-72B specs- PriceTie
Neither model publishes per-token API pricing.
- Context windowLlama 4 405B
Llama 4 405B 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.
- ModalitiesLlama 4 405B
Llama 4 405B supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Qwen3-72B.
- OpennessTie
Both ship open weights, self-host either one.
On balance Llama 4 405B edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Qwen3-72B's 0. Neither model publishes per-token API pricing. Llama 4 405B 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. They differ in modality coverage, Llama 4 405B handles text, vision while Qwen3-72B handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both ship open weights, self-host either one.
Both shipped within roughly a month of each other in 2025, so they share the same generation of training data and tooling. Llama 4 405B is usually picked for open source llm and fine tuning workloads, while Qwen3-72B sees more deployments in open source llm and commercial use llm. 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 | Qwen3-72B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Meta | Alibaba |
| Released | Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 256K tokens | 128K 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) | Yes (Apache-2.0) |
| 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
- Qwen3-72BPricing unavailable
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- MMLU,84.0
Llama 4 405B fits when…
- Strongest open-weight model at launch
- Multimodal (text + vision)
- Wide hosting availability
- Long-context tasks, handles 256K tokens vs 128K for Qwen3-72B.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Qwen3-72B fits when…
- Apache-2.0 license
- Strongest open-weight on Chinese
- Strong multilingual coverage
Consider Llama 4 70B
Meta's mid-tier Llama 4, the practical workhorse for self-hosted deployments.
Frequently asked
Is Llama 4 405B or Qwen3-72B 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 128K for Qwen3-72B.Is Llama 4 405B or Qwen3-72B better for coding?
Both Llama 4 405B and Qwen3-72B 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. Llama 4 405B is licensed under Llama 4 Community License; Qwen3-72B under Apache-2.0.When were Llama 4 405B and Qwen3-72B released?
Llama 4 405B was released by Meta on 2025-04-05. Qwen3-72B was released by Alibaba on 2025-04-29.
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