AI Recommendation
Should you use llama-3.1-8b-instruct?
llama-3.1-8b-instruct is listed for chat workloads and supports a 8K context window.
Use it when NVIDIA NIM's free tier is enough for evaluation, demos, or light production traffic.
llama-3.1-8b-instruct Free API on NVIDIA NIM
Free API VerifiedCompact open Llama model for lightweight chat, drafting, and self-hosting
Free APIOpenAI compatibleTool callingJSON mode
API Details
Copy-ready connection details
Base URL
https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1 Model ID
meta/llama-3.1-8b-instruct API format OpenAI Chat Completions
Technical Details
llama-3.1-8b-instruct specifications
Context window 8K
Max output 4K
Status Online
Family llama
Knowledge cutoff 2023-12
Released Jul 23, 2024
Last updated Jul 7, 2026
Free listing since Jul 23, 2024
Input text
Output text
Capabilities tool calling, structured output, temperature control
Open weights Yes
Weights Hugging Face
Best for
- Chat
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Tool calling support
- Structured JSON output
- Open weights available
- Live API verification available
Watch outs
- Vision support is not listed
Benchmark Overview
Benchmark signals for llama-3.1-8b-instruct
Intelligence General reasoning and instruction following
7.6/100 Coding Programming and code generation
5.4/100 Agentic Tool use and multi-step tasks
0.5/100 Context Maximum listed context window
8K Pricing
llama-3.1-8b-instruct pricing per 1M tokens
Input $0 per 1M tokens
Output $0 per 1M tokens
Free access Available NVIDIA NIM
Availability
llama-3.1-8b-instruct availability by provider
We found 3 provider listings for llama-3-1-8b-instruct. Check model ID, quota, pricing, and API format before switching providers.
| Provider | Model listing | Access | Context | API | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | meta/llama-3.1-8b-instruct | Free tier | 8K | Native | Varies |
| | Meta-Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct | Free tier | 128K | Native | Credit-metered |
| | @cf/meta/llama-3.1-8b-instruct-fp8 | Free tier | 8K | Native | Varies |
Compare
llama-3.1-8b-instruct alternatives to consider
| Model | Provider | Context | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta-Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct | Hugging Face | 128K | Free tier |
| @cf/meta/llama-3.1-8b-instruct-fp8 | Cloudflare Workers AI | 8K | Free tier |
| 01-ai/yi-large | NVIDIA NIM | 131K | Free tier |
| adept/fuyu-8b | NVIDIA NIM | 131K | Free tier |
| ai21labs/jamba-1.5-large-instruct | NVIDIA NIM | 131K | Free tier |
Typical Use Cases
llama-3.1-8b-instruct use cases
Chat
llama-3.1-8b-instruct is tagged for chat in this catalog and works with OpenAI-compatible client libraries.
FAQ
llama-3.1-8b-instruct free API FAQ
Is llama-3.1-8b-instruct free to use?
llama-3.1-8b-instruct is listed with free API access on NVIDIA NIM, subject to the provider's quota and account policy.
What is the llama-3.1-8b-instruct model ID?
The model ID shown in this catalog is meta/llama-3.1-8b-instruct.
What context window does llama-3.1-8b-instruct support?
The listed context window is 8K tokens with up to 4K output tokens.
More about llama-3.1-8b-instruct
Meta Llama 3.1 8B is available free through Hugging Face's Serverless Inference API, providing access to the full 128K-context model without setting up your own infrastructure. The HF API is not OpenAI SDK-compatible (uses Hugging Face's own format), so it requires HF-specific client code or the huggingface_hub Python library. Rate limits are approximately 1,000 requests per day — sufficient for prototyping, evaluation, and low-volume applications. Registration required; free for public models.
For API keys, setup steps, and provider-level limits, see the NVIDIA NIM provider page.