Llama 4 405B for open-source llms
Llama 4 405B is the #1 pick on LLMDex's open-source llms ranking out of 8 models we track for this use case. Below, the specific reasons it slots where it does, and when you should reach for an alternative.
Updated
At a glance
- Rank
- #1 of 8
- Context
- 256K tokens
- Output / 1M
- Pricing not published
- Released
- Apr 2025
Why Llama 4 405B fits this task
Three things about Llama 4 405B that map directly onto what this task rewards: Strongest open-weight model at launch; Multimodal (text + vision); Wide hosting availability. Beyond the task-specific fit, Llama 4 405B also brings strongest open-weight model at launch and multimodal (text + vision), both of which compound when the workload broadens.
The criteria this task rewards
LLMDex ranks best open-source llms on 5 criteria , these are the axes the ranking uses, in priority order:
- Composite benchmark performance
- License permissiveness (Apache, MIT, custom OSS)
- Inference economics on commodity GPUs
- Fine-tuning ecosystem maturity
- Multilingual coverage
How Llama 4 405B scores on each axis
Where Llama 4 405B costs you: custom license with revenue caps. For most teams this is acceptable on this workload, the value of the strengths above outweighs the cost. For cost-bound workloads or teams with strict latency budgets, run an eval against the next two ranked models on real data before committing.
Strengths that pay off here
- Strongest open-weight model at launch
- Multimodal (text + vision)
- Wide hosting availability
Tracked weaknesses
- Custom license with revenue caps
- Heavy to self-host
When to pick something else
If you have a binding constraint that Llama 4 405B doesn't satisfy, pricing, license, regional availability, modality coverage, the next-best pick on this task is DeepSeek-V3 from DeepSeek. DeepSeek's flagship 671B-parameter MoE, frontier-level quality at a tiny fraction of frontier prices.
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Other models for open-source llms
- DeepSeek-V3 for open-source llms
DeepSeek's flagship 671B-parameter MoE, frontier-level quality at a tiny fraction of frontier prices.
Read guide - Qwen3-72B for open-source llms
Alibaba's flagship open-weight Qwen3, strong on multilingual, code, and math, Apache-2.0 licensed.
Read guide - Llama 4 70B for open-source llms
Meta's mid-tier Llama 4, the practical workhorse for self-hosted deployments.
Read guide - DeepSeek-R1 for open-source llms
First open-weight reasoning model to match o1, the release that proved RL-from-scratch reasoning training was reproducible.
Read guide - Mixtral 8×22B for open-source llms
Mistral's largest open-weight MoE, Apache-2.0, still widely deployed.
Read guide
Llama 4 405B for other use cases
Direct comparisons
Frequently asked
Is Llama 4 405B good for open-source llms?
Llama 4 405B is ranked #1 on LLMDex's open-source llms list. Meta's flagship open-weight model, sparse MoE design competitive with closed-frontier flagships.How much does Llama 4 405B cost for open-source llms?
Meta has not published per-token pricing for Llama 4 405B at the time of writing.What's a cheaper alternative to Llama 4 405B for open-source llms?
The next ranked model on this task is DeepSeek-V3. Compare both before committing.When should I NOT use Llama 4 405B for open-source llms?
Tracked weakness: Custom license with revenue caps. If that constraint is binding for your workload, the next-ranked model on this task is the safer pick.
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