Hermes 3 405B Instruct vs Vision Small vs Aya Expanse 32B
Vision Small comes out ahead, 61 to 32 and 29 on our weighted score, though Aya Expanse 32B is 2.1× cheaper per token.
Nous ResearchHermes 3 405B Instruct
29/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $1.00
- Context131K
- Our pick
VisparkVision Small
61/100- ECI—
- Price$1.05 / $3.16
- Context1M
CohereAya Expanse 32B
32/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $1.50
- Context128K
Vision Small is our pick
Vision Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Aya Expanse 32B (32) and Hermes 3 405B Instruct (29). It leads on inputs & features and context window. 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 · Hermes 3 405B Instruct $1.00 · Vision Small $1.58 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextVision SmallVision Small 1,000,000 · Hermes 3 405B Instruct 131,072 · Aya Expanse 32B 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsVision SmallHermes 3 405B Instruct: Text · Vision Small: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Aya Expanse 32B: Text
- Self-hostingHermes 3 405B Instruct and Aya Expanse 32BPublishes downloadable weights (CC-BY-NC-4.0)
| Measure | Weight | Hermes 3 405B Instruct | Vision Small | Aya Expanse 32B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 48 | 39 | 53 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 0 | 100 | 0 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 60 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 29/100 | 61/100 | 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 | Vision SmallVispark | Aya Expanse 32BCohere |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.00 | $1.05 | $0.50 (best) |
| Output | $1.00 (best) | $3.16 | $1.50 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.00 | $1.58 | $0.75 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 5 providers | Official Vispark API | Official Cohere API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 16,384 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) | 4,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | Yes | No |
| Video | No | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | No | Yes | No |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | OpenCC-BY-NC-4.0 |
| API model ID | — | vispark/vision-small | c4ai-aya-expanse-32b |
| API providers | 5 (best) | 1 | 2 |
| Released | Aug 16, 2024 | May 15, 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
- Vision Small$16.82
- Aya Expanse 32B$8.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Hermes 3 405B Instruct, Vision Small or Aya Expanse 32B?
Vision Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Aya Expanse 32B (32) and Hermes 3 405B Instruct (29). It leads on inputs & features and context window. 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, Vision Small 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); Vision Small costs $1.05 input / $3.16 output per million tokens (official Vispark API price). 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) and $1.58 for Vision Small (2.1× 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, Vision Small 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, Vision Small 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?
Vision Small has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Hermes 3 405B Instruct and 128,000 for Aya Expanse 32B. Maximum output per response: Hermes 3 405B Instruct up to 16,384, Vision Small up to 65,536, Aya Expanse 32B up to 4,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Hermes 3 405B Instruct accepts text; Vision Small accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Aya Expanse 32B accepts text. Vision Small handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Hermes 3 405B Instruct and Aya Expanse 32B publishes its weights (CC-BY-NC-4.0) and can be self-hosted; Vision Small is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Aya Expanse 32B is the newest, released Oct 24, 2024. Hermes 3 405B Instruct came out Aug 16, 2024; Vision Small came out May 15, 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.
