The Great-billed Hermit is distributed in western Amazonia with disjunct populations in the Guianas with Amapa and in eastern Brazil. See the distribution map at Birdlife International. It is found in lowland forest both terra firme and inundated as well as the foothills of the eastern Andes.

Some authorities include it under the species Long-tailed Hermit P. superciliosus.

The bird in photo 1 has some pollen on its forecrown.