Llama 3.1 405B Dense vs Llama 4 Maverick MoE
Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) Saves 67%
Synced 2026-10-30
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) API Cost Calculator
Side-by-side FinOps unit economics audit comparing Llama 3.1 405B Instruct (DeepInfra) against Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) (DeepInfra). Switching or hybrid-routing 80% of traffic to Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) cuts blended token spend by 67% and saves $8,579/mo ($102,946/yr) at 10,000 DAU.
Cost Efficiency Winner
Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE)
$0.265/1M blended tokens (67% lower than Llama 3.1 405B Instruct at $0.80/1M)
10,000 DAU Monthly Delta
$8,579/mo
Saves $102,946/year on 12.6B input + 2.88B output tokens/mo
Throughput & Latency Winner
Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE)
1. Side-by-Side Token Pricing, Context Window & Speed Matrix
Exact API pricing per 1 Million tokens (Input, Output, and Prompt Cache Read), maximum context window, and real-world streaming throughput.
| FinOps Metric | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct (DeepInfra) | Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) (DeepInfra) | Arbitrage Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input Price (per 1M tokens) | $0.80 / 1M | $0.19 / 1M | Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) (4.2x cheaper) |
| Output Price (per 1M tokens) | $0.80 / 1M | $0.49 / 1M | Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) (1.6x cheaper) |
| Cached Input Read (per 1M) | $0.40 / 1M | $0.095 / 1M | Prompt Cache Hit Discount Ready |
| Blended 3:1 RAG Rate (per 1M) | $0.80 / 1M | $0.265 / 1M | 67% savings with Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) |
| Context Window / Max Output | 131K (131,072) / 16K out | 524K (524,288) / 16K out | Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) larger context |
| Streaming Speed & TTFT | 64 tok/s (430ms TTFT) | 148 tok/s (210ms TTFT) | Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) faster generation |
| Capabilities (Tools / Vision / Cache) | Tools: Yes · Vision: No · Cache: Yes | Tools: Yes · Vision: Yes · Cache: Yes | JSON Mode: Both Supported |
2. Monthly SaaS Cloud Bill Simulation (1,000 DAU / 10,000 DAU / 50,000 DAU)
Simulated monthly API spend for a production AI SaaS application (12 requests per active user/day, 3,500 input tokens + 800 output tokens per turn, 30 days/month).
| SaaS Scale Tier | Monthly Token Volume | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct Monthly Bill | Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) Monthly Bill | Monthly Savings (Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE)) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 DAU (Seed / MVP) | 1.26B in / 288M out | $1,238/mo | $380.52/mo | Save $857.88/mo |
| 10,000 DAU (Growth SaaS) | 12.6B in / 2.88B out | $12,384/mo | $3,805/mo | Save $8,579/mo ($102,946/yr) |
| 50,000 DAU (Enterprise Scale) | 63.0B in / 14.4B out | $61,920/mo | $19,026/mo | Save $42,894/mo |
3. Prompt Caching Savings Math (At 10,000 DAU Workload)
Long system prompts, RAG document context, and multi-turn agent histories qualify for automatic or explicit prompt caching. Here is how cache hit rates change your monthly cloud bill:
| Prompt Cache Hit Rate | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct (Read @ $0.40/1M) | Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) (Read @ $0.095/1M) | Combined Hybrid Router + 75% Cache |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0% Cache Hit (Cold Prompts) | $12,384/mo | $3,805/mo | $5,521/mo |
| 50% Cache Hit (Standard Chat) | $9,864/mo | $3,207/mo | $4,538/mo |
| 75% Cache Hit (Production Agent/RAG) | $8,604/mo | $2,907/mo | $4,047/mo |
| 90% Cache Hit (Heavy Document Context) | $7,848/mo | $2,728/mo | $3,752/mo |
4. Multi-Provider Host Arbitrage & Latency Disparity Table (Cost vs. <400ms TTFT SLA)
Don't overpay default gateway markups or suffer peak-hour latency spikes. Compare verified inference hosts for both Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) anchored by Cost-per-1M Tokens vs. Time-to-First-Token (TTFT < 400ms SLA):
| Model | Inference Host / Gateway | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Cache Read / 1M | TTFT Latency & SLA | Throughput | Deploy / Credits Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) | DigitalOcean GPU Droplets ($200 Free Credit) #1 Smart Router Pick | $0.19 | $0.49 | $0.095 | 165ms <400ms SLA ✓ | 170 tok/s | Deploy ($200 Free 60-Day Cloud Credit) → |
| Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) | Vultr Cloud GPU ($300 Free Credit) | $0.19 | $0.49 | $0.095 | 167ms <400ms SLA ✓ | 168 tok/s | Deploy ($300 Free GPU Cloud Credit) → |
| Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) | RunPod Serverless vLLM ($5–$500 Bonus) | $0.19 | $0.49 | $0.095 | 172ms <400ms SLA ✓ | 163 tok/s | Deploy ($5–$500 Free Bonus Credit) → |
| Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) | DeepInfra (Lowest Price) | $0.19 | $0.49 | $0.095 | 189ms <400ms SLA ✓ | 148 tok/s | Deploy (Get $50 Free API Credits) → |
| Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) | Fireworks AI | $0.22 | $0.88 | $0.11 | 160ms <400ms SLA ✓ | 175 tok/s | Deploy ($50 Free FireAttention Credits) → |
| Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) | Together AI | $0.27 | $0.85 | $0.135 | 175ms <400ms SLA ✓ | 160 tok/s | Deploy ($25 Free Inference Credits) → |
| Llama 3.1 405B Instruct | DigitalOcean GPU Droplets ($200 Free Credit) | $0.80 | $0.80 | $0.40 | 326ms <400ms SLA ✓ | 86 tok/s | Deploy ($200 Free 60-Day Cloud Credit) → |
| Llama 3.1 405B Instruct | Vultr Cloud GPU ($300 Free Credit) | $0.80 | $0.80 | $0.40 | 333ms <400ms SLA ✓ | 84 tok/s | Deploy ($300 Free GPU Cloud Credit) → |
| Llama 3.1 405B Instruct | RunPod Serverless vLLM ($5–$500 Bonus) | $0.80 | $0.80 | $0.40 | 354ms <400ms SLA ✓ | 79 tok/s | Deploy ($5–$500 Free Bonus Credit) → |
| Llama 3.1 405B Instruct | DeepInfra | $0.80 | $0.80 | $0.40 | 438ms Batch/Async | 64 tok/s | Deploy (Get $50 Free API Credits) → |
| Llama 3.1 405B Instruct | Fireworks AI | $3.00 | $3.00 | $1.50 | 304ms <400ms SLA ✓ | 92 tok/s | Deploy ($50 Free FireAttention Credits) → |
| Llama 3.1 405B Instruct | Together AI | $3.50 | $3.50 | $1.75 | 359ms <400ms SLA ✓ | 78 tok/s | Deploy ($25 Free Inference Credits) → |
⚡ Smart Router Disparity Anchor: Routing 80% of turns to DigitalOcean GPU Droplets ($200 Free Credit) saves 67% while keeping Time-to-First-Token under the 400ms real-time UX threshold.
5. Frequently Asked Questions (Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE))
Is Llama 3.1 405B Instruct or Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) cheaper per 1M tokens in production?
Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) is 67% cheaper on a blended 3:1 input-to-output production workload ($0.265/1M blended vs $0.80/1M for Llama 3.1 405B Instruct). Llama 3.1 405B Instruct charges $0.80/1M input and $0.80/1M output, while Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) charges $0.19/1M input and $0.49/1M output.
How much does Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) cost at 10,000 Daily Active Users (DAU)?
At 10,000 DAU (360,000 requests/day at 3,500 input + 800 output tokens), Llama 3.1 405B Instruct costs $12,384/month uncached ($8,604/mo with 75% prompt cache hits), whereas Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) costs $3,805/month uncached ($2,907/mo with 75% prompt cache hits). Routing to Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) saves $8,579/month ($102,946/year).
How much does Prompt Caching save on Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE)?
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct offers cached input reads at $0.40/1M tokens, while Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) offers cached reads at $0.095/1M tokens. At a 75% system-prompt/RAG cache hit rate, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct monthly spend drops from $12,384 to $8,604, and Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) drops from $3,805 to $2,907.
Which model has faster token generation speed and larger context: Llama 3.1 405B Instruct or Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE)?
Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) delivers higher throughput at 148 tokens/sec (TTFT 210ms) compared to 64 tokens/sec. For context window, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct supports 131K tokens (131,072) while Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) supports 524K tokens (524,288).
6. Related FinOps Comparisons & Model Calculators
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct Pricing Calculator
Full host arbitrage & DAU cost breakdown →
Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E MoE) Pricing Calculator
Full host arbitrage & DAU cost breakdown →
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