# Llama 3 API Rate Limits, Pricing & Performance (July 2026)

- Tool: AI API Limits & Performance Matrix
- Last updated: July 2026

## TL;DR

Llama 3 (8B/70B) is a legacy open-weights model with no active first-party API. Rate limits and pricing depend entirely on your inference host — Groq offers ~30 RPM free; Together AI and DeepInfra charge per token. Availability is thinning. For new projects, migrate to Llama 4 Scout: 10M native context, multimodal, and $0.08/MTok input on DeepInfra.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Llama 3 still work in 2026?

Yes, Llama 3 is still callable on several third-party hosts including Groq and Together AI as of July 2026, but availability is thinning. Some hosts have already dropped Llama 3 in favor of newer models. For any new project, we recommend using Llama 4 Scout or Llama 3.3 70B instead.

### Is Llama 3 API free?

There is no official Meta-hosted Llama 3 API. Third-party hosts like Groq offer a free tier with approximately 30 RPM on available Llama 3 models. Paid hosts like Together AI and DeepInfra charge per million tokens — prices range from ~$0.10 to $0.40/MTok depending on model size and host (per third-party trackers; confirm in your dashboard).

### How do I increase Llama 3 rate limits?

Rate limits for Llama 3 are controlled by your inference host, not Meta. To get higher limits: upgrade from Groq's free tier to a paid plan, add credit balance on Together AI or DeepInfra, or contact the host's sales team for enterprise capacity. For the best long-term rate limits and pricing, migrating to Llama 4 Scout is the recommended path.

### What does a 429 error mean on Llama 3?

A 429 means your application exceeded the rate limit set by your inference host (not Meta). On Groq free tier this is ~30 RPM. On other hosts, limits are not publicly published. Implement exponential backoff with jitter and honor the Retry-After header in the 429 response. See the retry playbook on this page for a complete TypeScript implementation.

### Llama 3 vs Llama 4 Scout pricing: which is cheaper?

Llama 4 Scout is cheaper on virtually every host. On DeepInfra, Scout costs $0.08/MTok input vs ~$0.10–0.20/MTok for Llama 3 (per third-party trackers). Scout also offers 10M native context and multimodal support. There is no reason to choose Llama 3 over Scout for new projects started in 2026.

### Can I self-host Llama 3?

Yes. Llama 3 is released under the Apache 2.0 license, which allows free commercial use and self-hosting without per-token costs. You will need GPU infrastructure (e.g., A100 or H100 nodes). At typical cloud GPU costs, self-hosting breaks even with third-party API spend at roughly $300–500/month. For newer capabilities, consider self-hosting Llama 4 Scout instead.

### Should I still use Llama 3 or migrate to a newer model?

Migrate for new projects. Llama 3 is a legacy model with thinning host availability, no multimodal support, and no stable first-party pricing. Llama 4 Scout offers better performance, lower cost, and 10M native context. If you need help planning the migration and optimizing API quota usage for your stack, the RapidDev team offers free scoping calls at rapidevelopers.com/contact.

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Source: https://www.rapidevelopers.com/ai-api-limits-performance-matrix/llama-3
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