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Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct Lite vs OpenAI GPT-OSS 20B

On provider list prices, OpenAI GPT-OSS 20B costs $0.05 per million input tokens against $0.14 for Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct Lite: 2.8x apart. Output is $0.20 against $0.14. On Allocate both bill at list plus the 7% transaction fee.

Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct Lite OpenAI GPT-OSS 20B
LabMetaOpenAI
AccessOpen weightsOpen weights
Context window8K tokens128K tokens
List price, input$0.14 / M tokens$0.05 / M tokens
List price, output$0.14 / M tokens$0.2 / M tokens
Cached inputn/an/a
LicenseLlama communityApache 2.0
Fine-tunableYesYes

Specifications and provider list prices from the Allocate catalog, checked 2026-07-08. Billed price is list plus the 7% transaction fee.

What the numbers say

Take 1,000,000 requests a month at 1,200 input and 350 output tokens each. That workload costs $130 a month on OpenAI GPT-OSS 20B and $217 on Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct Lite at list: a gap of $87.00, or 1.7x.

OpenAI GPT-OSS 20B reads 128K tokens per request against 8K for Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct Lite, 16.0x the window. That decides which one can take whole documents without splitting them.

OpenAI GPT-OSS 20B$0.05$0.20
Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct Lite$0.14$0.14
InputOutput

Choose Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct Lite for

  • Training toward a model you own
Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct Lite details

Choose OpenAI GPT-OSS 20B for

  • The lower list price ($0.05 in / $0.20 out per M tokens)
  • The longer context window (128K vs 8K tokens)
  • Fine-tuning under a permissive license (Apache 2.0)
OpenAI GPT-OSS 20B details

Common questions

Which is cheaper, Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct Lite or OpenAI GPT-OSS 20B?

OpenAI GPT-OSS 20B, on this workload shape. At list prices it is $0.05/$0.20 per million tokens in and out against $0.14/$0.14 for Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct Lite. Billed on Allocate: $0.053/$0.21 against $0.15/$0.15, list plus 7%.

Which has the bigger context window?

OpenAI GPT-OSS 20B: 131,072 tokens (128K) against 8,192 (8K) for Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct Lite.

Can I fine-tune Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct Lite or OpenAI GPT-OSS 20B?

Both publish open weights (Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct Lite: Llama community; OpenAI GPT-OSS 20B: Apache 2.0), so both can be fine-tuned. On Allocate the trained weights stay inside your boundary and belong to you.

Related comparisons

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Run the numbers on your workload

LLM price comparisonAgent cost calculatorMeta Llama 3 8B Instruct LiteOpenAI GPT-OSS 20B

Or don’t choose. On Allocate a route name is the contract: point yours at one model today, swap to the other tomorrow, and compare them on your live traffic with per-token metering.

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