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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Apertus 8B vs Trinity Mini

Trinity Mini comes out ahead, 65 to 54 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Swiss AI

    Apertus 8B

    Released Sep 2, 2025

    54/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.10 / $0.20
    • Context66K
  2. Our pick

    Arcee AI

    Trinity Mini

    Released Dec 1, 2025

    65/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.045 / $0.15
    • Context131K
  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Trinity Mini is our pick

Trinity Mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 65/100 against Apertus 8B (54). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceTrinity MiniTrinity Mini $0.071 · Apertus 8B $0.125 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextTrinity MiniTrinity Mini 131,072 · Apertus 8B 65,536 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsApertus 8B: Text · Trinity Mini: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightApertus 8BTrinity Mini
Price50%89100
Inputs & features30%2535
Context window20%1225
Overall100%54/10065/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Apertus 8B vs Trinity Mini specifications side by side
SpecificationApertus 8BSwiss AITrinity MiniArcee AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.045 (best)
Output$0.20$0.15 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.125$0.071 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window65,536 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output8,192 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0OpenOpenMDW-1.1
API model ID——
API providers11
ReleasedSep 2, 2025Dec 1, 2025
Knowledge cutoffSep 2025—
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Apertus 8B$1.40
  • Trinity Mini$0.75
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Apertus 8B or Trinity Mini?

Trinity Mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 65/100 against Apertus 8B (54). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Apertus 8B or Trinity Mini?

Trinity Mini is cheaper at $0.045 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Apertus 8B costs $0.10 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.071 per million tokens for Trinity Mini versus $0.125 for Apertus 8B (1.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Apertus 8B has not been scored yet and Trinity Mini has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Apertus 8B and Trinity Mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Trinity Mini has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 65,536 for Apertus 8B. Maximum output per response: Apertus 8B up to 8,192, Trinity Mini up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Apertus 8B accepts text; Trinity Mini accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0 and OpenMDW-1.1), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Trinity Mini is the newest, released Dec 1, 2025. Apertus 8B came out Sep 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Apertus 8B Sep 2025.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.