Llama 4 Maverick vs Llama 4 Maverick Instruct: which model should you choose?
We compared Llama 4 Maverick and Llama 4 Maverick Instruct on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. Llama 4 Maverick Instruct has the stronger average benchmark score; Llama 4 Maverick Instruct is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
Llama 4 Maverick
Llama 4 Maverick is a multimodal model from Meta AI. It offers a 200,000-token context window, costs $5.36 per million input tokens and $25.19 per million output tokens, and averages 81.6 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $5.36 / 1M
- Output
- $25.19 / 1M
- Context
- 200,000
- Avg score
- 81.6
- Open weights
- Yes
Llama 4 Maverick Instruct
Llama 4 Maverick Instruct is a multimodal model from Meta AI. It offers a 200,000-token context window, costs $5.33 per million input tokens and $23.04 per million output tokens, and averages 81.7 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $5.33 / 1M
- Output
- $23.04 / 1M
- Context
- 200,000
- Avg score
- 81.7
- Open weights
- Yes
Specification comparison
| Spec | Llama 4 Maverick | Llama 4 Maverick Instruct | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $5.36 | $5.33 | B |
| Output price / 1M | $25.19 | $23.04 | B |
| Context window | 200,000 | 200,000 | Tie |
| Max output | 8,192 | 16,384 | B |
| Average score | 81.6 | 81.7 | B |
| Arena Elo | 1447.0 | 1438.5 | A |
| Open weights | Yes | Yes | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
Llama 4 Maverick wins 5, Llama 4 Maverick Instruct wins 7, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | Llama 4 Maverick | Llama 4 Maverick Instruct | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 84.7 | 84.6 | 0.1 | Llama 4 Maverick |
| GPQA Diamond | 76.8 | 79.5 | 2.7 | Llama 4 Maverick Instruct |
| SWE-bench Verified | 71.8 | 69.1 | 2.7 | Llama 4 Maverick |
| HumanEval | 87.3 | 85.0 | 2.3 | Llama 4 Maverick |
| MATH-500 | 82.7 | 83.4 | 0.7 | Llama 4 Maverick Instruct |
| AIME 2025 | 79.6 | 79.9 | 0.3 | Llama 4 Maverick Instruct |
| LiveCodeBench | 75.7 | 75.8 | 0.1 | Llama 4 Maverick Instruct |
| IFEval | 87.5 | 88.9 | 1.4 | Llama 4 Maverick Instruct |
| TruthfulQA | 82.6 | 84.0 | 1.4 | Llama 4 Maverick Instruct |
| HellaSwag | 88.2 | 89.6 | 1.4 | Llama 4 Maverick Instruct |
| MMMU | 80.4 | 79.0 | 1.4 | Llama 4 Maverick |
| Arena Elo | 1447.0 | 1438.5 | 8.5 | Llama 4 Maverick |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, Llama 4 Maverick costs about $10.32 per million tokens and Llama 4 Maverick Instruct costs about $9.76. Llama 4 Maverick Instruct is roughly 5% cheaper than Llama 4 Maverick. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
Both models list a 200,000-token context window. That is enough for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, Llama 4 Maverick wins 5, Llama 4 Maverick Instruct wins 7, and 0 are tied. On the index average, Llama 4 Maverick Instruct leads Llama 4 Maverick by 0.1 points (81.7 versus 81.6).
The price picture favours Llama 4 Maverick Instruct. The context picture is effectively a tie. Those two dimensions often matter more than a few benchmark points once a model is good enough for the task.
If you need a single default, start with Llama 4 Maverick Instruct for quality-sensitive work, and check whether its price holds at your expected volume before committing.
Choose Llama 4 Maverick if
- You prefer Meta AI's tooling or already use it.
Choose Llama 4 Maverick Instruct if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
- You need the larger 16,384-token output limit.
FAQ
Is Llama 4 Maverick better than Llama 4 Maverick Instruct?
On the index average, Llama 4 Maverick Instruct leads Llama 4 Maverick by 0.1 points (81.7 versus 81.6). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. Llama 4 Maverick wins 5 benchmarks, Llama 4 Maverick Instruct wins 7.
Which is cheaper, Llama 4 Maverick or Llama 4 Maverick Instruct?
Llama 4 Maverick Instruct is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $9.76 per million tokens, versus $10.32 for Llama 4 Maverick.
Which has the larger context window?
Both models list a 200,000-token context window.
Are these models open weights?
Llama 4 Maverick is open weights; Llama 4 Maverick Instruct is open weights.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with Llama 4 Maverick Instruct for quality-sensitive work, and check whether its price holds at your expected volume before committing.