Hermes 3 405B Instruct vs Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct vs Aya Expanse 32B
Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct comes out ahead, 44 to 32 and 29 on our weighted score, though Aya Expanse 32B is 19% cheaper per token.
Nous ResearchHermes 3 405B Instruct
29/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $1.00
- Context131K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct
44/100- ECI—
- Price$0.905 / $1.00
- Context131K
CohereAya Expanse 32B
32/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $1.50
- Context128K
Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct is our pick
Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 44/100 against Aya Expanse 32B (32) and Hermes 3 405B Instruct (29). It leads on inputs & features. Aya Expanse 32B wins on price. 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 priceAya Expanse 32BAya Expanse 32B $0.75 · Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct $0.93 · Hermes 3 405B Instruct $1.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextHermes 3 405B Instruct and Qwen2.5-VL 72B InstructHermes 3 405B Instruct 131,072 · Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct 131,072 · Aya Expanse 32B 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen2.5-VL 72B InstructHermes 3 405B Instruct: Text · Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct: Text, Images · 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 | Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct | Aya Expanse 32B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 48 | 49 | 53 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 0 | 50 | 0 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 25 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 29/100 | 44/100 | 32/100 |
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 3 405B InstructNous Research | Qwen2.5-VL 72B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | Aya Expanse 32BCohere |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.00 | $0.905 | $0.50 (best) |
| Output | $1.00 (best) | $1.00 | $1.50 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.00 | $0.93 | $0.75 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 5 providers | Median of 6 providers | Official Cohere API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 16,384 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens | 4,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | 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 | 6 (best) | 2 |
| Released | Aug 16, 2024 | Jan 26, 2025 | Oct 24, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Dec 31, 2023 | 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.
- Hermes 3 405B Instruct$12.00
- Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct$11.06
- Aya Expanse 32B$8.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Hermes 3 405B Instruct, Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct or Aya Expanse 32B?
Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 44/100 against Aya Expanse 32B (32) and Hermes 3 405B Instruct (29). It leads on inputs & features. Aya Expanse 32B wins on price. 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 3 405B Instruct, Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct or Aya Expanse 32B?
Aya Expanse 32B is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Cohere API price). Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct costs $0.905 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers); 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 $0.93 for Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct (1.2× as much) and $1.00 for Hermes 3 405B Instruct (1.3× as much).
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, Qwen2.5-VL 72B 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, Qwen2.5-VL 72B 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 and Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct have the largest context windows (131,072 and 131,072 tokens), against 128,000 for Aya Expanse 32B. Maximum output per response: Hermes 3 405B Instruct up to 16,384, Qwen2.5-VL 72B 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; Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct accepts text and images; Aya Expanse 32B accepts text. Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.
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?
Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct is the newest, released Jan 26, 2025. Aya Expanse 32B came out Oct 24, 2024; Hermes 3 405B Instruct came out Aug 16, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Hermes 3 405B Instruct Dec 31, 2023, Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct 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.
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