ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B vs Qwen Flash vs Apertus 8B
Qwen Flash comes out ahead, 69 to 57 and 54 on our weighted score, though ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B is 11% cheaper per token.
BaiduERNIE 4.5 21B A3B
57/100- ECI—
- Price$0.07 / $0.28
- Context131K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Flash
69/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.40
- Context1M
Swiss AI
Apertus 8B
54/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.20
- Context66K
Qwen Flash is our pick
Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B (57) and Apertus 8B (54). It leads on 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 priceERNIE 4.5 21B A3BERNIE 4.5 21B A3B $0.122 · Apertus 8B $0.125 · Qwen Flash $0.138 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen FlashQwen Flash 1,000,000 · ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 131,072 · Apertus 8B 65,536 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsERNIE 4.5 21B A3B: Text · Qwen Flash: Text · Apertus 8B: Text
- Self-hostingERNIE 4.5 21B A3B and Apertus 8BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B | Qwen Flash | Apertus 8B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 89 | 87 | 89 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 45 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 60 | 12 |
| Overall | 100% | 57/100 | 69/100 | 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 | Qwen FlashAlibaba (Qwen) | Apertus 8BSwiss AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.07 | $0.05 (best) | $0.10 |
| Output | $0.28 | $0.40 | $0.20 (best) |
| Cached input | — | $0.01 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.122 (best) | $0.138 | $0.125 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 256K: $0.25 / $2.00 | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Official Alibaba API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Max output | 8,000 tokens | 32,768 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 | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | Proprietary | OpenApache-2.0 |
| API model ID | — | qwen-flash | — |
| API providers | 1 | 6 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Jun 30, 2025 | Jul 28, 2025 | Sep 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Apr 2024 | 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
- Qwen Flash$1.30
- Apertus 8B$1.40
Which should you choose?
Which is better: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B, Qwen Flash or Apertus 8B?
Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B (57) and Apertus 8B (54). It leads on 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, ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B, Qwen Flash 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); 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 $0.125 for Apertus 8B (1× as much) and $0.138 for Qwen Flash (1.1× as much).
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, Qwen Flash 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, Qwen Flash and Apertus 8B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
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 65,536 for Apertus 8B. Maximum output per response: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B up to 8,000, Qwen Flash up to 32,768, Apertus 8B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B accepts text; Qwen Flash accepts text; Apertus 8B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B and Apertus 8B publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Qwen Flash is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Apertus 8B is the newest, released Sep 2, 2025. Qwen Flash came out Jul 28, 2025; ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B came out Jun 30, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen Flash Apr 2024, 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.
