ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B vs Apertus 8B
Too close to call on our weighted score (ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 57, Apertus 8B 54). The right pick depends on what you value most.
BaiduERNIE 4.5 21B A3B
57/100- ECI—
- Price$0.07 / $0.28
- Context131K
Swiss AI
Apertus 8B
54/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.20
- Context66K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 57/100, Apertus 8B 54/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B on price and ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 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 priceERNIE 4.5 21B A3BERNIE 4.5 21B A3B $0.122 · Apertus 8B $0.125 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextERNIE 4.5 21B A3BERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 131,072 · Apertus 8B 65,536 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsERNIE 4.5 21B A3B: Text · Apertus 8B: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B | Apertus 8B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 89 | 89 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 12 |
| Overall | 100% | 57/100 | 54/100 |
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 | ERNIE 4.5 21B A3BBaidu | Apertus 8BSwiss AI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.07 (best) | $0.10 |
| Output | $0.28 | $0.20 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.122 (best) | $0.125 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Max output | 8,000 tokens | 8,192 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | OpenApache-2.0 |
| API model ID | — | — |
| API providers | 1 | 1 |
| Released | Jun 30, 2025 | Sep 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Sep 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B$1.26
- Apertus 8B$1.40
Which should you choose?
Which is better: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B or Apertus 8B?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 57/100, Apertus 8B 54/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B on price and ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 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, ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B or Apertus 8B?
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B is cheaper at $0.07 input / $0.28 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 $0.122 per million tokens for ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B versus $0.125 for Apertus 8B (1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B has not been scored yet and Apertus 8B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B and Apertus 8B 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?
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 65,536 for Apertus 8B. Maximum output per response: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B up to 8,000, Apertus 8B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B accepts text; Apertus 8B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Apertus 8B is the newest, released Sep 2, 2025. ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B came out Jun 30, 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.
