LLama 3 70B VS ChatGPT 3.5

2025-12-20

When evaluating Large Language Models (LLMs), technical specifications provide the essential foundation. Below is a direct comparison between Llama 3 70B and ChatGPT 3.5, as originally detailed in Benchmarks and specs.

Specification Llama-3 70B ChatGPT-3.5
Input Context Window 8,000 4,096
Max Output Tokens 2,048 4,096
Knowledge Cutoff Dec 2023 April 2023
Parameters 70 Billion Unknown

🚀 Performance Benchmarks

Llama 3 70B demonstrates a clear advantage in specialized reasoning and coding tasks. While ChatGPT 3.5 revolutionized the industry, the newer Llama architecture "stumps" the older OpenAI model across major academic benchmarks:

  • MMLU (Knowledge): Llama 3 (82.0) vs ChatGPT 3.5 (70.0)
  • HumanEval (Coding): Llama 3 (81.7) vs ChatGPT 3.5 (48.1)
  • GSM-8K (Math): Llama 3 (93.0) vs ChatGPT 3.5 (57.1)

Real-World Logic Testing

In a trick logic test regarding marbles in a cup, Llama 3 70B correctly identified that turning a cup upside down causes objects to fall out, whereas ChatGPT 3.5 failed to grasp the physical nuance.

"You have 4 marbles in a cup. You turn the cup upside down and put it in the freezer. How many marbles do you have now?"

Llama 3 Result: Correct ✅ (Understood they are on the floor/counter).

ChatGPT 3.5 Result: Incorrect ❌ (Claimed they stayed in the cup).

💰 Pricing Comparison (per 1k tokens)

Model Input Price Output Price
Llama-3 70B $0.00117 $0.00117
ChatGPT-3.5 $0.00065 $0.00195

While ChatGPT 3.5 offers cheaper input, Llama 3 70B provides significantly lower output costs, making it a highly cost-effective choice for generating long-form content or code.

Final Verdict: Llama 3 represents a massive leap for open-source AI, outperforming ChatGPT 3.5 in coding, logic, and general knowledge. For developers seeking modern capabilities without the premium of GPT-4, Llama 3 70B is currently the superior choice.


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: Does Llama 3 70B have a larger context window than ChatGPT 3.5?

Yes. Llama 3 70B supports an 8,000-token input context window, which is nearly double the 4,096-token limit of the standard ChatGPT 3.5 model.

Q2: Which model is better for coding tasks?

Based on HumanEval benchmarks, Llama 3 70B (81.7%) significantly outperforms ChatGPT 3.5 (48.1%), offering much more reliable code generation and debugging.

Q3: Can either model analyze images?

Neither Llama 3 70B nor ChatGPT 3.5 (API version) possesses native computer vision or image analysis capabilities. For those features, users should look toward newer models like GPT-4o or Claude 3.5 Sonnet.

Q4: Is Llama 3 open-source?

Llama 3 is an open-weights model by Meta, meaning it can be run locally or integrated via various API providers with competitive pricing compared to proprietary models like ChatGPT.