Llama 3.1 70B Instruct alternatives
Match · Updated July 2026
The closest alternative to Llama 3.1 70B Instruct is Llama Guard 4 12B — comparable intelligence (— vs —); for a cheaper option, GPT-5.6 Luna runs $0.100/M vs $0.400/M; and the best open-weight substitute is Kimi K3.
Closest match
Cheaper alternatives
gpt-5.6-luna
$0.100/M input · 51.2 intel
minimax-m3
$0.300/M input · 44.4 intel
minimax-m3:batch
$0.150/M input · 44.4 intel
hy3
$0.132/M input · 41.2 intel
nex-n2-pro
$0.250/M input · 41.0 intel
deepseek-v4-flash
$0.140/M input · 40.3 intel
Open-source alternatives
kimi-k3
57.1 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
glm-5.2
51.1 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
minimax-m3
44.4 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
minimax-m3:batch
44.4 intel · open weights · 524K ctx
deepseek-v4-pro
44.3 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
kimi-k2.6
44.2 intel · open weights · 262K ctx
Frequently asked
What is the best alternative to Llama 3.1 70B Instruct?
Llama Guard 4 12B is the closest alternative to Llama 3.1 70B Instruct, with an Intelligence Index of — (Llama 3.1 70B Instruct scores —) at $0.180 per million input tokens.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Llama 3.1 70B Instruct?
Yes — GPT-5.6 Luna costs $0.100 per million input tokens versus $0.400 for Llama 3.1 70B Instruct, while staying within ~8 points of its Intelligence Index.
Is there an open-source alternative to Llama 3.1 70B Instruct?
Kimi K3 is the strongest open-weight alternative to Llama 3.1 70B Instruct — downloadable from Hugging Face and self-hostable, scoring 57.1 on intelligence.