Aya Expanse 32B vs Hermes 3 405B Instruct vs Vision Small
Vision Small comes out ahead, 61 to 32 and 29 on our weighted score, though Aya Expanse 32B is 2.1× cheaper per token.
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
- Our pick
VisparkVision Small
61/100- ECI—
- Price$1.05 / $3.16
- Context1M
Vision Small is our pick
Vision Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Aya Expanse 32B (32) and Hermes 3 405B Instruct (29). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Aya Expanse 32B wins on price. 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 · Vision Small $1.58 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextVision SmallVision Small 1,000,000 · Hermes 3 405B Instruct 131,072 · Aya Expanse 32B 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsVision SmallAya Expanse 32B: Text · Hermes 3 405B Instruct: Text · Vision Small: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
- 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 | Vision Small |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 53 | 48 | 39 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 25 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 32/100 | 29/100 | 61/100 |
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 | Vision SmallVispark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.50 (best) | $1.00 | $1.05 |
| Output | $1.50 | $1.00 (best) | $3.16 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.75 (best) | $1.00 | $1.58 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Cohere API | Median of 5 providers | Official Vispark API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 4,000 tokens | 16,384 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | Yes |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| 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 | — | vispark/vision-small |
| API providers | 2 | 5 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Oct 24, 2024 | Aug 16, 2024 | May 15, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Dec 31, 2023 | — |
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
- Vision Small$16.82
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Aya Expanse 32B, Hermes 3 405B Instruct or Vision Small?
Vision Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Aya Expanse 32B (32) and Hermes 3 405B Instruct (29). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Aya Expanse 32B wins on price. 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 Vision Small?
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); Vision Small costs $1.05 input / $3.16 output per million tokens (official Vispark 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 $1.58 for Vision Small (2.1× 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 Vision Small 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 Vision Small 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?
Vision Small has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Hermes 3 405B Instruct and 128,000 for Aya Expanse 32B. Maximum output per response: Aya Expanse 32B up to 4,000, Hermes 3 405B Instruct up to 16,384, Vision Small up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Aya Expanse 32B accepts text; Hermes 3 405B Instruct accepts text; Vision Small accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Vision Small handles the widest range of inputs.
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; Vision Small is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Aya Expanse 32B is the newest, released Oct 24, 2024. Hermes 3 405B Instruct came out Aug 16, 2024; Vision Small came out May 15, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Hermes 3 405B Instruct Dec 31, 2023.
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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