gpt-oss-120b vs llama-3.1-8b-instant

Capability for the money

Not the same tier: gpt-oss-120b leads llama-3.1-8b-instant by 76.2 points on coding (LiveCodeBench), for 7.8× the price.

1. Following instructions

   extraction, classification, sticking to a format

   IFBench
   gpt-oss-120b69.0%

   llama-3.1-8b-instant28.6%

   gpt-oss-120b +40.4

2. Coding

   writing and fixing code

   LiveCodeBench
   gpt-oss-120b87.8%

   llama-3.1-8b-instant11.6%

   gpt-oss-120b +76.2

3. Tool use

   multi-step agent work against real tools

   τ²-bench
   gpt-oss-120b65.8%

   llama-3.1-8b-instant16.4%

   gpt-oss-120b +49.4

4. Hard reasoning

   graduate-level science and multi-step analysis

   GPQA Diamond
   gpt-oss-120b78.2%

   llama-3.1-8b-instant25.9%

   gpt-oss-120b +52.3

Averaged over the benchmarks both models sat, llama-3.1-8b-instant returns 358.7 points of pass rate per dollar of blended price against 167.1 — 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. And a benchmark is not your workload — it narrows the shortlist, it does not pick for you.