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Model comparison

DeepSeek V3 vs Llama 3.1 405B

Updated July 31, 2026. Public scores include evidence status and uncertainty. They are not guarantees for a specific workload.

DeepSeek V3

DeepSeek

44.1/100

Supported · Public rank #155

90% interval 25.5–62.7

Llama 3.1 405B

Meta

Evidence status unavailable

90% interval unavailable

The public evidence has no benchmark result shared by both models, so it does not support a quality verdict. Use the documented cost, context, and runtime rows instead.

0 results are shared. Category rows based on different benchmark sets are marked directional and do not name a winner.

Which one for your work

Recommendations appear only when a shared evidence basis or an explicit operating constraint supports the call. Secondary and unsupported use cases stay disclosed below the initial list.

No workload recommendation clears the current evidence threshold.

Use the matched evidence, workload costs, and sourced specifications below instead of treating a point score as a universal answer.

Show secondary and unsupported calls
  • Coding work

    Code generation, repair, and software-engineering tasks

    Not enough matched evidence

    No shared weighted benchmark basis supports a winner.

    Confidence: limited

  • Agentic work

    Tool use, computer use, and multi-step task completion

    Not enough matched evidence

    No shared weighted benchmark basis supports a winner.

    Confidence: limited

  • Long documents

    Prompts that approach the documented context limit

    No clear pick

    The documented context windows are equal.

    Confidence: documented

  • Chat turn cost

    1K fresh input + 500 output tokens

    Not enough matched evidence

    A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.

    Confidence: listed-rates

  • Cache-heavy agent loop cost

    200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens

    Not enough matched evidence

    The page does not recommend a cost winner because at least one model cannot fit the stated workload in one request. DeepSeek V3 does not fit this workload in one request. Llama 3.1 405B does not fit this workload in one request. Llama 3.1 405B has no comparable published API token rate.

    Confidence: listed-rates

  • Repository review cost

    50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

    Not enough matched evidence

    A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.

    Confidence: listed-rates

What is actually comparable

Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results present for only one model describe coverage, not superiority.

Shared results
0
DeepSeek V3 only
6
Llama 3.1 405B only
0
Like-for-like categories
0 / 8

Category results, on a stated basis

Each row states whether both averages use the same weighted benchmark set. Directional and not-comparable rows remain visible, but they never receive a winner in this template.

Agentic

Not comparable
DeepSeek V3
Not measured
Llama 3.1 405B
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Coding

Not comparable
DeepSeek V3
38.9
Llama 3.1 405B
Not measured
Weighted basis
2 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Reasoning

Not comparable
DeepSeek V3
Not measured
Llama 3.1 405B
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Knowledge

Not comparable
DeepSeek V3
72.7
Llama 3.1 405B
Not measured
Weighted basis
2 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Math

Not comparable
DeepSeek V3
1.7
Llama 3.1 405B
Not measured
Weighted basis
1 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multilingual

Not comparable
DeepSeek V3
Not measured
Llama 3.1 405B
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multimodal

Not comparable
DeepSeek V3
Not measured
Llama 3.1 405B
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Instruction following

Not comparable
DeepSeek V3
86.1
Llama 3.1 405B
Not measured
Weighted basis
1 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Shape of the matched evidence

Only shared public evidence is shown. Sparse evidence stays a ruled list rather than being closed into a radar shape.

A shared-evidence shape is not available.

BenchLM does not draw a radar or infer missing axes when the matched evidence is too sparse.

What each workload costs

Three fixed token mixes turn per-token rates into comparable decisions. Each scenario states context fit and whether cached input had to fall back to the published list-input rate.

Chat turn

1K fresh input + 500 output tokens

DeepSeek V3
$0.00082
Fits in one request
Llama 3.1 405B
Self-hosted; infrastructure cost varies
Fits in one request

Llama 3.1 405B has no comparable published API token rate.

Repository review

50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

DeepSeek V3
$0.0168
Fits in one request
Llama 3.1 405B
Self-hosted; infrastructure cost varies
Fits in one request

Llama 3.1 405B has no comparable published API token rate.

Cache-heavy agent loop

200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens

DeepSeek V3
$0.0304
Does not fit in one request
Llama 3.1 405B
Self-hosted; infrastructure cost varies
Does not fit in one request
Cached-input rate unavailable

DeepSeek V3 does not fit this workload in one request. Llama 3.1 405B does not fit this workload in one request. Llama 3.1 405B has no comparable published API token rate.

Specification differences

Sourced differences are shown directly. Missing facts stay explicit instead of being inferred from a model name or family.

Context window

Maximum documented context; output-token limits may be lower.

DeepSeek V3

128K

Llama 3.1 405B

128K

API model ID

DeepSeek V3

Not sourced

Llama 3.1 405B

Not sourced

Cached-input rate

A missing cached-input rate falls back to the listed input rate only in the stated workload estimate.

DeepSeek V3

$0.07 per 1M cached input tokens

Llama 3.1 405B

No comparable hosted API rate

Documented inputs

DeepSeek V3

Not sourced

Llama 3.1 405B

Not sourced

Documented outputs

DeepSeek V3

Not sourced

Llama 3.1 405B

Not sourced

Provider availability

DeepSeek V3

Not sourced

Llama 3.1 405B

Not sourced

Reasoning profile

DeepSeek V3

Non-Reasoning

Llama 3.1 405B

Non-Reasoning

Weight access

DeepSeek V3

Open Weight

Llama 3.1 405B

Open Weight

License

DeepSeek V3

Open Weight

Llama 3.1 405B

Open Weight

Release date

DeepSeek V3

2024-12-26

Llama 3.1 405B

2024-07-23

If you already use one of these models
Deployment change
The models list different providers, so authentication, endpoint behavior, limits, and feature support may change.
Quality signal
The public evidence has no benchmark result shared by both models, so it does not support a quality verdict.
Workload cost
A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.
Context tradeoff
Both models list 128K.

Run the same representative tasks against both endpoints before changing production traffic.

Self-host vs API cost

Estimates at 50,000 req/day · 1000 tokens/req average.

DeepSeek V3
API / mo$1,028
Self-host / mo$18,221
Break-even1.2B/day
Llama 3.1 405B
API / mo$0
Self-host / moNot listed
Break-even
Proprietary model — self-hosting not applicable.
Model the full break-even

Benchmark evidence

The full public result ledger is available for audit without forcing a wide desktop table onto a phone.

Browse raw public benchmark evidence6 rows

Coding

  • LiveCodeBench

    DeepSeek V337.6%
    Source
    Llama 3.1 405B

    Not directly comparable

  • SWE-bench Verified

    DeepSeek V342%
    Source
    Llama 3.1 405B

    Not directly comparable

Knowledge

  • GPQA

    DeepSeek V359.1%
    Source
    Llama 3.1 405B

    Not directly comparable

  • MMLU-Pro

    DeepSeek V375.9%
    Source
    Llama 3.1 405B

    Not directly comparable

Math

  • FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)

    DeepSeek V31.724%
    Source
    Llama 3.1 405B

    Not directly comparable

Instruction following

  • IFEval

    DeepSeek V386.1%
    Source
    Llama 3.1 405B

    Not directly comparable

Frequently asked questions

Which is better, DeepSeek V3 or Llama 3.1 405B?

The public evidence has no benchmark result shared by both models, so it does not support a quality verdict. The page therefore keeps the decision tied to the specific documented workload.

Which is better for coding, DeepSeek V3 or Llama 3.1 405B?

The published evidence does not provide a shared weighted coding basis for both models, so BenchLM does not name a coding winner.

Which is better for agentic tasks, DeepSeek V3 or Llama 3.1 405B?

The published evidence does not provide a shared weighted agentic tasks basis for both models, so BenchLM does not name a agentic tasks winner.

Which costs less, DeepSeek V3 or Llama 3.1 405B?

Both models do not have comparable published API token rates, so this page does not name a universal price winner.

Which has the larger context window, DeepSeek V3 or Llama 3.1 405B?

Both models list the same context window, 128K.

Related comparisons

Last updated July 31, 2026

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