Skip to content
Rapid Router

Model comparison

Gemma 3 4B IT vs Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct

Gemma 3 4B IT (Google) and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct (Meta) side by side: what each costs per million tokens through Rapid Router, how much context each takes, what each supports, and where independent benchmarks place them. Same API, same key; switching is a one-string change.

Gemma 3 4B ITLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct
Input price per 1M$0.050$0.020
Output price per 1M$0.100$0.040
Context window131K tokens131K tokens
Max output16K tokens118K tokens
Input typestext, imagetext
CapabilitiesJSON, visiontools, JSON
AuthorGoogleMeta

What a month costs on each

WorkloadGemma 3 4B ITLlama-3.1-8B-Instruct
Chatbot month (15M in, 4M out)$1.15$0.460
RAG month (40M in, 3M out)$2.30$0.920
Coding month (60M in, 10M out)$4.00$1.60

On a typical 75/25 input-output mix, Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct costs less (about 60% less than Gemma 3 4B IT). Gemma 3 4B IT takes the longer prompt at 131K tokens. Try your own numbers in the cost calculator.

Call either one

curl https://rapidrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RAPIDROUTER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "google/gemma-3-4b-it:free", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]}'

# the other one: change the model string
  -d '{"model": "meta-llama/meta-llama-3.1-8b-instruct:free", ...}'

Common questions

Which is cheaper, Gemma 3 4B IT or Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct?

Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct is cheaper on a typical mix of 75% input and 25% output tokens, by about 60%. Through Rapid Router both are billed at the provider list price per million tokens.

Which has the larger context window?

Gemma 3 4B IT, at 131K tokens. Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct offers 131K tokens.

Can I switch between Gemma 3 4B IT and Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct without changing code?

Yes. Both are callable at https://rapidrouter.ai/api/v1 with the same OpenAI-compatible request; only the model string changes (google/gemma-3-4b-it:free or meta-llama/meta-llama-3.1-8b-instruct:free).

How do I pay for Gemma 3 4B IT or Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct?

Top up a Rapid Router balance by card in US dollars, and both models debit that balance per request.

More Gemini models: Google API pricing · More Llama: Meta API pricing