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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking vs solar-mini

Too close to call on our weighted score (Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 51, solar-mini 50, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 44). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Nous Research

    Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B

    Released Apr 30, 2024

    51/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.14 / $0.14
    • Context8K
    Full specs Remove Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    44/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $3.95
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

  3. Upstage

    solar-mini

    Released Jun 12, 2024

    50/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context33K
    Full specs Remove solar-mini
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 51/100, solar-mini 50/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 44/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B on price and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 priceHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B $0.14 · solar-mini $0.15 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking $1.36 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 131,072 · solar-mini 32,768 · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 8,192 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B: Text · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: Text, Images · solar-mini: Text
  • Self-hostingHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingPublishes downloadable weights (Llama 3 Community License)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinkingsolar-mini
Price50%874285
Inputs & features30%256025
Context window20%0250
Overall100%51/10044/10050/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking vs solar-mini specifications side by side
SpecificationHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BNous ResearchQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingAlibaba (Qwen)solar-miniUpstage
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.14 (best)$0.50$0.15
Output$0.14 (best)$3.95$0.15
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.14 (best)$1.36$0.15
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 2 providersMedian of 5 providersOfficial Upstage API
Limits
Context window8,192 tokens131,072 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens32,768 tokens (best)4,096 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoYesNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenLlama 3 Community LicenseOpenProprietary
API model ID——solar-mini
API providers25 (best)1
ReleasedApr 30, 2024Sep 23, 2025Jun 12, 2024
Knowledge cutoff—Mar 31, 2025Sep 2024
03 — Cost

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
  • Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking$12.90
  • solar-mini$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking or solar-mini?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 51/100, solar-mini 50/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 44/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B on price and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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, Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking or solar-mini?

Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B is cheaper at $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); Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking costs $0.50 input / $3.95 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.14 per million tokens for Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B versus $0.15 for solar-mini (1.1× as much) and $1.36 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking (9.7× 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking has the largest context window at 131,072 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking up to 32,768, solar-mini up to 4,096 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B accepts text; Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking accepts text and images; solar-mini accepts text. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking publishes its weights (Llama 3 Community License) and can be self-hosted; solar-mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. solar-mini came out Jun 12, 2024; Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B came out Apr 30, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking Mar 31, 2025, 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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