Is Meta better than Recursive?
It depends on the job: Meta offers the broader line-up (16 models vs 1), Meta the longest context (1.3M tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
Meta vs Recursive
Meta lists 16 models and Recursive 1. Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
At a glance
| Meta | Recursive | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 16 | 1 |
| Models with published pricing | 16 | 1 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $0.15 | n/a |
| Cheapest paid model | Llama Guard 3 8B ($0.03) | n/a |
| Longest context | Meta: Llama 4 Scout (1.3M) | Recursive: Flint (free) (262K) |
| Free models | 2 | 1 |
| Newest model | Meta: Llama Guard 4 12B (2025-04-30) | Recursive: Flint (free) (2026-10-21) |
| Price changes in the last 90 days | 29 | 0 |
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What each costs for real workloads
For each workload: the cheapest model from each provider that can actually do it (fits the context window; tool calling required for the agent), and its monthly cost at list price.
| Workload (per month) | Meta | Recursive |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $2.70 with Llama Guard 3 8B | no suitable model |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $3.00 with Llama Guard 3 8B | no suitable model |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context | $6.96 with meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct | no suitable model |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page | $1.96 with Llama Guard 3 8B | no suitable model |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass | $1.06 with Llama Guard 3 8B | no suitable model |
Cheapest model for each capability
| You need | Meta | Recursive |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | Llama Guard 3 8B ($0.03) | none listed |
| With tool calling | Meta: Llama 3 8B Instruct ($0.03) | none listed |
| With image input | Meta: Llama 3.2 11B Vision Instruct ($0.05) | none listed |
| With reasoning mode | none listed | none listed |
| 128K+ context | Llama Guard 3 8B ($0.03) | none listed |
| 1M+ context | Meta: Llama 4 Scout ($0.15) | none listed |
Line-up by type and price tier
| Model type | Meta | Recursive |
|---|---|---|
| text+image->text | 4 | 0 |
| text->text | 12 | 1 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | Meta | Recursive |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 2 | 1 |
| Under $0.50 | 11 | 0 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 1 | 0 |
| $3 – $10 | 2 | 0 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
Frequently asked questions
Which has more models, Meta or Recursive?
Meta: Meta lists 16 models and Recursive lists 1.
Which provider has the longest context window?
Meta: Meta's longest is Meta: Llama 4 Scout at 1.3M tokens; Recursive's is Recursive: Flint (free) at 262K.
Do Meta or Recursive offer free models?
Meta: 2 free models (e.g. Meta: Llama 3.2 3B Instruct (free)). Recursive: 1 free model (e.g. Recursive: Flint (free)).
Which provider has models that can read images?
Meta: 4 of 16 models accept images. Recursive: 0 of 1.