Llama 4 Maverick (non-reasoning)

Speed, Intelligence, and Multimodality Unleashed

Llama 4 Maverick (non-reasoning)

Llama 4 Maverick is a high-performance, multimodal LLM from Meta, excelling in speed and intelligence with competitive pricing.

Text & Image InputText Output1M ContextOpen LicenseHigh SpeedMeta

Llama 4 Maverick emerges as a formidable contender in the large language model landscape, particularly for applications demanding high throughput and multimodal capabilities. Developed by Meta, this model distinguishes itself with an exceptional balance of speed, intelligence, and a generous context window, making it a versatile choice for a wide array of generative AI tasks. Positioned as an open-weight, non-reasoning model, Maverick offers developers and enterprises significant flexibility and control over deployment and fine-tuning.

Our comprehensive benchmarking reveals Llama 4 Maverick's strong performance across key metrics. It scores an impressive 36 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, placing it above average among comparable models. This indicates a robust understanding and generation capability, suitable for complex content creation, summarization, and question-answering. While it exhibits a tendency towards verbosity, generating 15 million tokens during evaluation compared to an average of 11 million, this can often be managed through careful prompt engineering.

Speed is where Llama 4 Maverick truly shines, achieving an outstanding 128.8 tokens per second in our benchmarks, ranking it #1 in its class. This makes it an ideal candidate for real-time applications and scenarios requiring rapid response times. Pricing is also competitive, with an average input token cost of $0.27 per million and output tokens at $0.85 per million. These figures, especially for input, are significantly below the market average, offering a cost-effective solution for many use cases.

Beyond its core performance, Llama 4 Maverick boasts multimodal input capabilities, supporting both text and image inputs to generate text outputs. This feature unlocks new possibilities for applications like visual content analysis, image captioning, and multimodal conversational agents. With a substantial 1 million token context window and knowledge up to July 2024, the model can process and retain extensive information, facilitating deeper and more coherent interactions over long sessions or complex documents.

Scoreboard

Intelligence

36 (14 / 30 / 30)

Scores above average among comparable models (average 33).
Output speed

128.8 tokens/s

Exceptional speed, ranking #1 in its class.
Input price

$0.27 /M tokens

Competitively priced for input tokens, ranking #8.
Output price

$0.85 /M tokens

Moderately priced for output tokens, ranking #10.
Verbosity signal

15M tokens

Somewhat verbose, generating 15M tokens during evaluation (average 11M).
Provider latency

0.19 s

Achieves ultra-low latency with top providers like Groq.

Technical specifications

Spec Details
Model Name Llama 4 Maverick
Owner Meta
License Open
Model Type Large Language Model (LLM)
Architecture Transformer-based
Input Modalities Text, Image
Output Modalities Text
Context Window 1M tokens
Knowledge Cutoff July 2024
Training Data Proprietary dataset
Fine-tuning Instruction-tuned
Primary Use Cases Content generation, summarization, Q&A, multimodal applications
Performance Class High-speed, general-purpose
Quantization Support FP8 (from select providers)

What stands out beyond the scoreboard

Where this model wins
  • Exceptional Speed: Achieves industry-leading output speeds, making it ideal for high-throughput and real-time applications.
  • Above-Average Intelligence: Demonstrates strong performance on intelligence benchmarks, capable of handling complex generative tasks.
  • Competitive Input Pricing: Offers some of the most cost-effective input token rates among comparable models.
  • Multimodal Capabilities: Supports both text and image inputs, enabling diverse applications from visual content analysis to multimodal chat.
  • Generous Context Window: A 1M token context window allows for processing and maintaining coherence over extensive documents and long conversations.
  • Open License: Its open-weight nature provides flexibility for deployment, customization, and integration into various ecosystems.
Where costs sneak up
  • Verbosity Impact: Higher verbosity can lead to increased output token consumption and thus higher overall costs if not managed.
  • Output Token Pricing: While moderate, output token costs are higher than input, requiring optimization for output length.
  • Provider Performance Variance: Significant differences in speed, latency, and price exist across API providers, necessitating careful selection.
  • Not a Dedicated Reasoning Model: While intelligent, it's classified as 'non-reasoning,' meaning complex logical inference might require specific prompting strategies.
  • Infrastructure Costs: For self-hosting, the model's size and computational demands can incur substantial infrastructure expenses.
  • Data Privacy for Multimodal: Handling image inputs may introduce additional data privacy and compliance considerations.

Provider pick

Choosing the right API provider for Llama 4 Maverick is crucial for optimizing performance and cost. Our benchmarks highlight significant variations across providers in terms of output speed, latency, and pricing. Your ideal provider will depend heavily on your primary use case and priorities.

For maximum efficiency, consider providers that leverage advanced quantization like FP8, as these often deliver superior speed and cost benefits. Enterprise users might prioritize reliability and support, while developers focused on cost-efficiency will look for the lowest blended rates.

Priority Pick Why Tradeoff to accept
Prioritize Speed SambaNova, Groq SambaNova (697 t/s) and Groq (435 t/s) are the undisputed leaders for raw output speed. May not offer the absolute lowest latency or blended price.
Prioritize Latency Groq, Deepinfra (FP8) Groq (0.19s) and Deepinfra (FP8) (0.30s) provide the quickest time to first token. Slightly higher output speed than the absolute fastest, but still excellent.
Prioritize Blended Cost Deepinfra (FP8), Groq Deepinfra (FP8) ($0.26/M) and Groq ($0.30/M) offer the most cost-effective overall pricing. Other providers might offer better specific metrics (e.g., latency) at a slightly higher blended cost.
Prioritize Input Cost Deepinfra (FP8), Novita (FP8) Deepinfra (FP8) ($0.15/M) and Novita (FP8) ($0.17/M) are cheapest for input tokens. Output token prices might be higher, impacting total cost for verbose outputs.
Prioritize Output Cost Deepinfra (Turbo, FP8), Snowflake Deepinfra (Turbo, FP8) ($0.50/M) and Snowflake ($0.50/M) lead for output token pricing. Input token prices might be slightly higher, but ideal for applications with high output volume.
Balanced Performance Together.ai, Google Vertex Together.ai offers a good balance of speed (0.33s latency, $0.41/M blended) and Google Vertex provides enterprise-grade reliability. Not the absolute best in any single metric, but a strong all-rounder.
Enterprise Scale Microsoft Azure (FP8), Amazon Bedrock These platforms offer robust infrastructure, security, and support for large-scale deployments. Often come with higher pricing compared to specialized API providers.

Note: Prices and performance are subject to change and may vary based on specific API configurations, region, and usage patterns.

Real workloads cost table

Understanding the real-world cost of Llama 4 Maverick involves more than just looking at per-token prices. It depends heavily on your application's specific input and output patterns, the complexity of the tasks, and the chosen API provider. Here, we illustrate estimated costs for common scenarios using average pricing for Llama 4 Maverick ($0.27/M input, $0.85/M output).

These estimates provide a general idea; actual costs will fluctuate based on provider, quantization, and the exact token counts generated by the model for your specific prompts.

Scenario Input Output What it represents Estimated cost
Short Q&A 100 tokens (question) 50 tokens (answer) User asks a concise question, model provides a brief, direct answer. ~$0.00007
Document Summarization 50,000 tokens (long article) 1,000 tokens (summary) Condensing a detailed report or research paper into a digestible summary. ~$0.01435
Multimodal Content Gen. Image + 200 tokens (prompt) 500 tokens (description) Generating a detailed text description or story based on an image and a short prompt. ~$0.00048
Chatbot Interaction (Avg.) 500 tokens (user turns) 750 tokens (model turns) A typical back-and-forth conversation over several turns, averaged per interaction. ~$0.00077
Code Generation/Refactoring 2,000 tokens (code + instructions) 3,000 tokens (generated code) Providing existing code or requirements for the model to generate new code or refactor. ~$0.00309
Data Extraction (Large Text) 100,000 tokens (raw data) 200 tokens (structured output) Extracting specific entities or facts from a very large document into a concise format. ~$0.02717

For Llama 4 Maverick, applications with high input token counts (like summarization or data extraction) will see costs dominated by input pricing, while highly verbose output-generating tasks (like creative writing or extensive code generation) will be more sensitive to output token rates. Its competitive input pricing makes it particularly attractive for processing large amounts of user-provided data.

How to control cost (a practical playbook)

Optimizing costs for Llama 4 Maverick involves a multi-faceted approach, leveraging its strengths and mitigating its verbosity. Given its open-weight nature and diverse API provider ecosystem, you have significant control over your expenditure.

The key is to align your technical implementation with your business objectives, ensuring you're not overpaying for capabilities you don't need or under-optimizing for high-volume scenarios.

Strategic Provider Selection

The choice of API provider dramatically impacts cost and performance. Benchmark providers for your specific use case.

  • Match Priority: If speed is paramount, choose SambaNova or Groq. If blended cost is key, Deepinfra (FP8) or Groq are strong contenders.
  • Quantization: Prioritize providers offering FP8 quantization, as it often leads to lower costs and faster inference.
  • Enterprise Needs: For large-scale, mission-critical applications, consider cloud providers like Azure or Amazon for their reliability and support, even if slightly pricier.
Prompt Engineering for Efficiency

Careful prompt design can reduce both input and output token counts, directly impacting costs.

  • Concise Inputs: Structure prompts to be clear and direct, avoiding unnecessary preamble or repetition.
  • Output Constraints: Explicitly instruct the model on desired output length, format, and content to minimize verbosity. Use phrases like "be concise," "limit to 3 sentences," or "return only JSON."
  • Few-Shot Learning: Provide examples within the prompt to guide the model towards desired output patterns, potentially reducing the need for lengthy instructions.
Output Management & Truncation

Given Llama 4 Maverick's tendency towards verbosity, actively managing its output is crucial for cost control.

  • Post-Processing: Implement server-side logic to truncate or filter model outputs to the exact length or content required before sending to the user.
  • Streaming & Early Exit: If using streaming APIs, consider implementing mechanisms to stop generation once a satisfactory answer is received or a token limit is hit.
  • Summarization Layers: For very long outputs, consider a secondary, smaller model or a rule-based system to summarize or extract key information, reducing the final output token count.
Caching & Batching Strategies

Reduce redundant API calls and optimize throughput with intelligent caching and batching.

  • Response Caching: For frequently asked questions or common prompts, cache model responses to avoid re-generating the same content.
  • Batch Processing: Group multiple independent requests into a single API call (if supported by the provider) to improve efficiency and potentially reduce per-request overhead.
  • Semantic Caching: Use embedding similarity to identify semantically similar prompts and return cached responses, even if the exact wording differs.
Leverage Multimodality Wisely

While powerful, multimodal inputs can be more resource-intensive. Use them strategically.

  • Image Optimization: Ensure images are appropriately sized and compressed before sending to the API to minimize transfer times and potential processing costs.
  • Conditional Multimodality: Only use image input when absolutely necessary. For purely text-based tasks, stick to text-only prompts.
  • Pre-processing: Extract relevant text from images using OCR or other vision models if only specific text content is needed, rather than sending the entire image to Llama 4 Maverick.

FAQ

What is Llama 4 Maverick?

Llama 4 Maverick is a large language model developed by Meta. It is an open-weight, non-reasoning model known for its high speed, above-average intelligence, multimodal capabilities (text and image input), and a substantial 1 million token context window.

How does Llama 4 Maverick compare to other Llama models?

While specific comparisons to other Llama versions (e.g., Llama 3) are not detailed here, Llama 4 Maverick distinguishes itself by its exceptional speed and multimodal input support. It builds upon the Llama family's reputation for strong performance and open-weight accessibility, offering advancements in efficiency and versatility.

What are Llama 4 Maverick's main strengths?

Its primary strengths include industry-leading output speed, above-average intelligence for generative tasks, competitive input token pricing, multimodal input (text and image), a large 1M token context window, and an open license that fosters broad adoption and customization.

What are its limitations or areas to watch?

Llama 4 Maverick can be somewhat verbose, potentially leading to higher output token costs if not managed. It is classified as a 'non-reasoning' model, meaning complex logical inference might require more deliberate prompting. Performance and cost also vary significantly across different API providers.

Can Llama 4 Maverick process images?

Yes, Llama 4 Maverick supports multimodal input, meaning it can take both text and image inputs to generate text outputs. This enables applications like image captioning, visual question answering, and content generation based on visual cues.

What is its context window size?

Llama 4 Maverick features a generous 1 million token context window. This allows the model to process and maintain coherence over very long documents, extensive conversations, or complex datasets within a single interaction.

Is Llama 4 Maverick open source?

Llama 4 Maverick is an open-weight model, which means its weights are publicly available for download and use, often under a permissive license. This allows for greater transparency, research, and the ability for developers to run and fine-tune the model on their own infrastructure.

How can I access Llama 4 Maverick?

Llama 4 Maverick can be accessed through various API providers such as Parasail, Novita, Google Vertex, Deepinfra, Together.ai, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Bedrock, Databricks, SambaNova, Groq, and Snowflake. You can also download and run the open-weight model on your own hardware, subject to its license terms.


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