command-r vs llama-3.1-70b-instruct
command-r is 6.7× cheaper on input than llama-3.1-70b-instruct.
| command-r | llama-3.1-70b-instruct | |
|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M | $0.15 | $1.00 |
| Cached input / 1M | — | — |
| Output / 1M | $0.60 | $1.00 |
| Context window | 128K | 131K |
| Max output | 4K | 131K |
| Provider | Cohere | Perplexity |
| Vision | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | No |
| Token count | estimated | estimated |
Capability for the money
Independent measurement · Artificial Analysis · read 2026-08-11llama-3.1-70b-instruct is 3.8× dearer for 18.4 points on coding (LiveCodeBench) — worth it only if that is your bottleneck.
Coding
writing and fixing code
LiveCodeBenchllama-3.1-70b-instruct +18.4
Hard reasoning
graduate-level science and multi-step analysis
GPQA Diamondllama-3.1-70b-instruct +12.5
Averaged over the benchmarks both models sat, command-r returns 63.2 points of pass rate per dollar of blended price against 32.0 — the ratio that decides whether the dearer model earns its rate.
Each figure is a pass rate: the share of that test set the model answered correctly, measured by a third party rather than self-reported by the lab. Rows are different tests of different difficulty, so compare a model against the other model, not one row against the next. No published following instructions or tool use score for one of these models, so those lenses are omitted. And a benchmark is not your workload — it narrows the shortlist, it does not pick for you.
Which to pick
- Cheaper input: command-r
- Cheaper output: command-r
- Larger context: llama-3.1-70b-instruct
- Better at coding: llama-3.1-70b-instruct (4.8% vs 23.2% on LiveCodeBench)
- Better at hard reasoning: llama-3.1-70b-instruct (28.4% vs 40.9% on GPQA Diamond)
List price is not production cost. Output length, cache hit rate, retries and task quality move the real number more than the headline rate does — price your own prompt on the token ledger before deciding.
Related comparisons
command-r detail · llama-3.1-70b-instruct detail · All Cohere pricing · All comparisons