Hermes 3 405B Instruct vs Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct vs Aya Expanse 32B
Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct comes out ahead, 25 to 10 and 10 on our weighted score.
Nous ResearchHermes 3 405B Instruct
10/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $1.00
- Context131K
- Our pick
NVIDIANemotron Mini 4B Instruct
25/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context128K
CohereAya Expanse 32B
10/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $1.50
- Context128K
Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct is our pick
Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 25/100 against Hermes 3 405B Instruct (10) and Aya Expanse 32B (10). It leads on inputs & features. 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 priceAya Expanse 32BAya Expanse 32B $0.75 · Hermes 3 405B Instruct $1.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct unpriced
- Longest contextHermes 3 405B InstructHermes 3 405B Instruct 131,072 · Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct 128,000 · Aya Expanse 32B 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsHermes 3 405B Instruct: Text · Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct: Text · Aya Expanse 32B: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Hermes 3 405B Instruct | Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct | Aya Expanse 32B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs & features | 60% | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| Context window | 40% | 25 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 10/100 | 25/100 | 10/100 |
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 | Hermes 3 405B InstructNous Research | Nemotron Mini 4B InstructNVIDIA | Aya Expanse 32BCohere |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.00 | — | $0.50 (best) |
| Output | $1.00 (best) | — | $1.50 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.00 | — | $0.75 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | — | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 5 providers | — | Official Cohere API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 16,384 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens | 4,000 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 | No | No |
| Tool calling | No | Yes | No |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | OpenCC-BY-NC-4.0 |
| API model ID | — | — | c4ai-aya-expanse-32b |
| API providers | 5 (best) | — | 2 |
| Released | Aug 16, 2024 | Aug 21, 2024 | Oct 24, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Dec 31, 2023 | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Hermes 3 405B Instruct$12.00
- Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct—
- Aya Expanse 32B$8.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Hermes 3 405B Instruct, Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct or Aya Expanse 32B?
Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 25/100 against Hermes 3 405B Instruct (10) and Aya Expanse 32B (10). It leads on inputs & features. 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, Hermes 3 405B Instruct, Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct or Aya Expanse 32B?
Aya Expanse 32B is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Cohere API price). Hermes 3 405B Instruct costs $1.00 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.75 per million tokens for Aya Expanse 32B versus $1.00 for Hermes 3 405B Instruct (1.3× as much). Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Hermes 3 405B Instruct has not been scored yet, Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct has not been scored yet and Aya Expanse 32B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Hermes 3 405B Instruct, Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct and Aya Expanse 32B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Hermes 3 405B Instruct and Aya Expanse 32B does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Hermes 3 405B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct and 128,000 for Aya Expanse 32B. Maximum output per response: Hermes 3 405B Instruct up to 16,384, Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct up to 8,192, Aya Expanse 32B up to 4,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Hermes 3 405B Instruct accepts text; Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct accepts text; Aya Expanse 32B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights (CC-BY-NC-4.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Aya Expanse 32B is the newest, released Oct 24, 2024. Nemotron Mini 4B Instruct came out Aug 21, 2024; Hermes 3 405B Instruct came out Aug 16, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Hermes 3 405B Instruct Dec 31, 2023.
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.
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