ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B vs Gemma 3n E4B IT vs Qwen Flash
Qwen Flash comes out ahead, 51 to 25 and 21 on our weighted score, though ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B is 11% cheaper per token.
BaiduERNIE 4.5 21B A3B
25/100- ECI—
- Price$0.07 / $0.28
- Context131K
GoogleGemma 3n E4B IT
21/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context33K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Flash
51/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.40
- Context1M
Qwen Flash is our pick
Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B (25) and Gemma 3n E4B IT (21). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. 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 · Qwen Flash $0.138 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Gemma 3n E4B IT unpriced
- Longest contextQwen FlashQwen Flash 1,000,000 · ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 131,072 · Gemma 3n E4B IT 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsGemma 3n E4B ITERNIE 4.5 21B A3B: Text · Gemma 3n E4B IT: Text, Images, Audio · Qwen Flash: Text
- Self-hostingERNIE 4.5 21B A3B and Gemma 3n E4B ITPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0 and Gemma Terms of Use)
| Measure | Weight | ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B | Gemma 3n E4B IT | Qwen Flash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs & features | 60% | 25 | 35 | 45 |
| Context window | 40% | 25 | 0 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 25/100 | 21/100 | 51/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. 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 | Gemma 3n E4B ITGoogle | Qwen FlashAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.07 | — | $0.05 (best) |
| Output | $0.28 (best) | — | $0.40 |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.01 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.122 (best) | — | $0.138 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | — | Over 256K: $0.25 / $2.00 |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | — | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 32,768 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,000 tokens | 32,768 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | Yes | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | No | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | OpenGemma Terms of Use | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | — | qwen-flash |
| API providers | 1 | — | 6 (best) |
| Released | Jun 30, 2025 | Jun 26, 2025 | Jul 28, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Jun 2024 | 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.
- ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B$1.26
- Gemma 3n E4B IT—
- Qwen Flash$1.30
Which should you choose?
Which is better: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B, Gemma 3n E4B IT or Qwen Flash?
Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B (25) and Gemma 3n E4B IT (21). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. 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, Gemma 3n E4B IT or Qwen Flash?
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B is cheaper at $0.07 input / $0.28 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Qwen Flash costs $0.05 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). 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 $0.138 for Qwen Flash (1.1× as much). Gemma 3n E4B IT has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B has not been scored yet, Gemma 3n E4B IT has not been scored yet and Qwen Flash has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B, Gemma 3n E4B IT and Qwen Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Gemma 3n E4B IT does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen Flash has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B and 32,768 for Gemma 3n E4B IT. Maximum output per response: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B up to 8,000, Gemma 3n E4B IT up to 32,768, Qwen Flash up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B accepts text; Gemma 3n E4B IT accepts text, images and audio; Qwen Flash accepts text. Gemma 3n E4B IT handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B and Gemma 3n E4B IT publishes its weights (Apache-2.0 and Gemma Terms of Use) and can be self-hosted; Qwen Flash is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen Flash is the newest, released Jul 28, 2025. ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B came out Jun 30, 2025; Gemma 3n E4B IT came out Jun 26, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemma 3n E4B IT Jun 2024, Qwen Flash 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.
