Aya Expanse 32B vs Hermes 3 405B Instruct vs Qwen Max
Too close to call on our weighted score (Aya Expanse 32B 32, Hermes 3 405B Instruct 29, Qwen Max 24). The right pick depends on what you value most.
CohereAya Expanse 32B
32/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $1.50
- Context128K
Nous ResearchHermes 3 405B Instruct
29/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $1.00
- Context131K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Max
24/100- ECI—
- Price$1.60 / $6.40
- Context33K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Aya Expanse 32B 32/100, Hermes 3 405B Instruct 29/100, Qwen Max 24/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Aya Expanse 32B on price and Hermes 3 405B Instruct for long inputs. 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 priceAya Expanse 32BAya Expanse 32B $0.75 · Hermes 3 405B Instruct $1.00 · Qwen Max $2.80 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextHermes 3 405B InstructHermes 3 405B Instruct 131,072 · Aya Expanse 32B 128,000 · Qwen Max 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsAya Expanse 32B: Text · Hermes 3 405B Instruct: Text · Qwen Max: Text
- Self-hostingAya Expanse 32B and Hermes 3 405B InstructPublishes downloadable weights (CC-BY-NC-4.0)
| Measure | Weight | Aya Expanse 32B | Hermes 3 405B Instruct | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 53 | 48 | 27 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 25 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 32/100 | 29/100 | 24/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Aya Expanse 32BCohere | Hermes 3 405B InstructNous Research | Qwen MaxAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.50 (best) | $1.00 | $1.60 |
| Output | $1.50 | $1.00 (best) | $6.40 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.75 (best) | $1.00 | $2.80 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Cohere API | Median of 5 providers | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Max output | 4,000 tokens | 16,384 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | No | No | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenCC-BY-NC-4.0 | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | c4ai-aya-expanse-32b | — | qwen-max |
| API providers | 2 | 5 | 8 (best) |
| Released | Oct 24, 2024 | Aug 16, 2024 | Apr 3, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Dec 31, 2023 | Apr 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Aya Expanse 32B$8.00
- Hermes 3 405B Instruct$12.00
- Qwen Max$28.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Aya Expanse 32B, Hermes 3 405B Instruct or Qwen Max?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Aya Expanse 32B 32/100, Hermes 3 405B Instruct 29/100, Qwen Max 24/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Aya Expanse 32B on price and Hermes 3 405B Instruct for long inputs. 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, Aya Expanse 32B, Hermes 3 405B Instruct or Qwen Max?
Aya Expanse 32B is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Cohere API price). Hermes 3 405B Instruct costs $1.00 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers); Qwen Max costs $1.60 input / $6.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.75 per million tokens for Aya Expanse 32B versus $1.00 for Hermes 3 405B Instruct (1.3× as much) and $2.80 for Qwen Max (3.7× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Aya Expanse 32B has not been scored yet, Hermes 3 405B Instruct has not been scored yet and Qwen Max has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Aya Expanse 32B, Hermes 3 405B Instruct and Qwen Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Aya Expanse 32B and Hermes 3 405B Instruct does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Hermes 3 405B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Aya Expanse 32B and 32,768 for Qwen Max. Maximum output per response: Aya Expanse 32B up to 4,000, Hermes 3 405B Instruct up to 16,384, Qwen Max up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Aya Expanse 32B accepts text; Hermes 3 405B Instruct accepts text; Qwen Max accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Aya Expanse 32B and Hermes 3 405B Instruct publishes its weights (CC-BY-NC-4.0) and can be self-hosted; Qwen Max is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Aya Expanse 32B is the newest, released Oct 24, 2024. Hermes 3 405B Instruct came out Aug 16, 2024; Qwen Max came out Apr 3, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Hermes 3 405B Instruct Dec 31, 2023, Qwen Max Apr 2024.
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.
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