Which is cheaper, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or Nova Micro 1.0?

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct, at $0.10 per million tokens against $0.25 for Nova Micro 1.0, three parts input to one part output, read on 16 Sept 2026.

Where is each one cheapest?

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct: $0.10 at Kilo Gateway. Nova Micro 1.0: nobody goes below OpenRouter's own price with a reason we can point at, so $0.25 is the number to beat.

Can I buy both from one provider?

Yes. 4 providers sell both: Kilo Gateway, Nous Portal, OpenRouter, Cortecs. The cheapest of them for the two together is Kilo Gateway.

Which holds more context?

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct, at 131k tokens against 128k.

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs Nova Micro 1.0.

model vs model · prices as of 16 Sept 2026

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct takes 4 of 5 rounds against Nova Micro 1.0. It is also the cheaper of the two to run, at $0.10 per million tokens against $0.25.

Metawins 4 rounds

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

$0.10/M tokens

cheapest we can explain, at Kilo Gateway · $0.0144 per 1,000 pages

131k context · tool calling · open weights

Kilo Gateway ↗

Amazon

Nova Micro 1.0

$0.25/M tokens

OpenRouter list price, nothing below it is accounted for · $0.0294 per 1,000 pages

128k context · tool calling

List price in (lower wins)

$0.05/M

$0.04/M

List price out (lower wins)

$0.08/M

$0.14/M

Cheapest we can explain (lower wins)

$0.10/M at Kilo Gateway

none below list

Standard price (lower wins)

$0.23/M

$0.25/M

Cost per 1,000 pages (lower wins)

$0.0144

$0.0294

Context

131k tokens

128k tokens

Open weights

yes

not stated

Tool calling

yes

Structured output

yes

Reads images

Reasoning

Released

23 Jul 2024

5 Dec 2024

Providers selling it

Price we measure against

OpenRouter

Trains on your prompts (no is better)

not stated

no provider to check

Providers selling both · 4

Kilo Gateway$0.10 / $0.24
Nous Portal$0.10 / $0.24
OpenRouter$0.23 / $0.24
Cortecs$0.69 / $0.29

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct then Nova Micro 1.0, per million tokens

Go further

open in the compare tool →every price for Llama 3.1 8B Instruct every price for Nova Micro 1.0

Add a third or fourth model, or switch the weighting, in the tool.

What moved in the last seven days

Llama 3.1 8B InstructNous Portal$0.02 / $0.03 $0.02 / $0.0425% dearer · 16 Sept 2026
Nova Micro 1.0Nous Portal$0.03 / $0.11 $0.04 / $0.1425% dearer · 16 Sept 2026

Frequently asked

Which is cheaper, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or Nova Micro 1.0?: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct, at $0.10 per million tokens against $0.25 for Nova Micro 1.0, three parts input to one part output, read on 16 Sept 2026.
Where is each one cheapest?: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct: $0.10 at Kilo Gateway. Nova Micro 1.0: nobody goes below OpenRouter's own price with a reason we can point at, so $0.25 is the number to beat.
Can I buy both from one provider?: Yes. 4 providers sell both: Kilo Gateway, Nous Portal, OpenRouter, Cortecs. The cheapest of them for the two together is Kilo Gateway.
Which holds more context?: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct, at 131k tokens against 128k.

Prices exclude tax and are per million tokens, read 16 Sept 2026 from each provider's own catalog. The standard price blends three parts input to one part output; a page is 600 tokens in and 60 out. Bars are scaled to the larger value in each row.