Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B vs Nova Lite vs solar-mini
Nova Lite comes out ahead, 75 to 51 and 50 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Nous ResearchHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B
51/100- ECI—
- Price$0.14 / $0.14
- Context8K
- Our pick
AmazonNova Lite
75/100- ECI—
- Price$0.06 / $0.24
- Context300K
Upstagesolar-mini
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
Nova Lite is our pick
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B (51) and solar-mini (50). It leads on price, 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 priceNova LiteNova Lite $0.105 · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B $0.14 · solar-mini $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova LiteNova Lite 300,000 · solar-mini 32,768 · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 8,192 tokens
- Widest inputsNova LiteHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B: Text · Nova Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · solar-mini: Text
- Self-hostingHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BPublishes downloadable weights (Llama 3 Community License)
| Measure | Weight | Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B | Nova Lite | solar-mini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 87 | 92 | 85 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 70 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 39 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 51/100 | 75/100 | 50/100 |
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 | Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BNous Research | Nova LiteAmazon | solar-miniUpstage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.14 | $0.06 (best) | $0.15 |
| Output | $0.14 (best) | $0.24 | $0.15 |
| Cached input | — | $0.015 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.14 | $0.105 (best) | $0.15 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 2 providers | Official Amazon Bedrock API | Official Upstage API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 8,192 tokens | 300,000 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 10,000 tokens (best) | 4,096 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenLlama 3 Community License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | amazon.nova-lite-v1:0 | solar-mini |
| API providers | 2 | 8 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Apr 30, 2024 | Dec 3, 2024 | Jun 12, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Oct 2024 | Sep 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B$1.68
- Nova Lite$1.08
- solar-mini$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B, Nova Lite or solar-mini?
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B (51) and solar-mini (50). It leads on price, 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, Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B, Nova Lite or solar-mini?
Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.06 input / $0.24 output per million tokens (official Amazon Bedrock API price). Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B costs $0.14 input / $0.14 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers); solar-mini costs $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.105 per million tokens for Nova Lite versus $0.14 for Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B (1.3× as much) and $0.15 for solar-mini (1.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B has not been scored yet, Nova Lite has not been scored yet and solar-mini has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B, Nova Lite and solar-mini 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?
Nova Lite has the largest context window at 300,000 tokens, against 32,768 for solar-mini and 8,192 for Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B. Maximum output per response: Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B up to 8,192, Nova Lite up to 10,000, solar-mini up to 4,096 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B accepts text; Nova Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video; solar-mini accepts text. Nova Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B publishes its weights (Llama 3 Community License) and can be self-hosted; Nova Lite and solar-mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Nova Lite is the newest, released Dec 3, 2024. solar-mini came out Jun 12, 2024; Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B came out Apr 30, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Nova Lite Oct 2024, solar-mini Sep 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.
