o3 Mini vs Llama Guard 3 8B

Compare o3 Mini and Llama Guard 3 8B: pricing, performance, context window, latency, and best use cases. Side-by-side comparison on XALEN.

Updated 2026-05-21 · By Abhishek Raj · Our methodology

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Feature o3 Mini Llama Guard 3 8B
CategoryReasoningSafety
Parameters~200B8B
Context Window200K128K
Input Price$0.04/1M tokens$0.01/1M tokens
Output Price$0.16/1M tokens$0.02/1M tokens
Latency~1000ms~60ms

Choose o3 Mini when:

  • ✓ Structured analysis
  • ✓ Quick reasoning
  • ✓ Scoring tasks
Key Strengths:

Fast reasoning, Good logic chains, Cost-efficient

Choose Llama Guard 3 8B when:

  • ✓ Content moderation
  • ✓ Safety filtering
  • ✓ Input validation
Key Strengths:

Safety classification, Fast, Open weights

Verdict: o3 Mini vs Llama Guard 3 8B

For cost efficiency, Llama Guard 3 8B wins at $0.01/1M input tokens. For speed, o3 Mini is faster at ~1000ms. o3 Mini excels at Structured analysis while Llama Guard 3 8B is better for Content moderation. Both are available on XALEN through a single API — try them in the Playground to see which fits your workload.

Detailed Analysis

Pricing Comparison

o3 Mini costs $0.04/1M input tokens and $0.16/1M output tokens. Llama Guard 3 8B costs $0.01 input and $0.02 output. Llama Guard 3 8B is 4.0x cheaper on input tokens. XALEN offers batch processing at 50% discount on both models.

Performance & Context

o3 Mini has a 200K context window with ~1000ms latency. Llama Guard 3 8B offers 128K context at ~60ms. o3 Mini has the larger context window.

Best For

o3 Mini (Reasoning) is optimized for: Structured analysis, Quick reasoning, Scoring tasks. Llama Guard 3 8B (Safety) works best for: Content moderation, Safety filtering, Input validation.

Try Both on XALEN

Both models are available through XALEN's OpenAI-compatible API. Switch between them by changing the model parameter:

from xalen import XALEN

client = XALEN(api_key="xln_test_YOUR_KEY")

# Use o3 Mini
response_a = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="o3-mini",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your question here"}]
)

# Use Llama Guard 3 8B
response_b = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="llama-guard-3-8b",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your question here"}]
)

Start Building with XALEN

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Get API Key Try in Playground

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, o3 Mini or Llama Guard 3 8B?

o3 Mini (Reasoning, ~200B) offers Fast reasoning. Llama Guard 3 8B (Safety, 8B) offers Safety classification. Choose o3 Mini for Structured analysis or Llama Guard 3 8B for Content moderation.

How much does o3 Mini cost vs Llama Guard 3 8B?

o3 Mini: $0.04/1M input, $0.16/1M output. Llama Guard 3 8B: $0.01/1M input, $0.02/1M output. Both available on XALEN with batch processing at 50% discount.

Can I use both models on XALEN?

Yes. XALEN provides 200+ models through a single OpenAI-compatible API. Switch between o3 Mini and Llama Guard 3 8B by changing the model parameter. No code changes needed.

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Last updated: 2026-05-21. Pricing and specifications may change. Check pricing page for latest rates.