Hermes 4 405B vs GPT-5 Chat
Hermes 4 405B comes out ahead, 35 to 31 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
Nous ResearchHermes 4 405B
35/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $3.00
- Context131K
OpenAIGPT-5 Chat
31/100- ECI—
- Price$1.25 / $10.00
- Context400K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Hermes 4 405B is our pick
Hermes 4 405B is the better all-round choice, scoring 35/100 against GPT-5 Chat (31). It leads on price. GPT-5 Chat wins on 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 priceHermes 4 405BHermes 4 405B $1.50 · GPT-5 Chat $3.44 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGPT-5 ChatGPT-5 Chat 400,000 · Hermes 4 405B 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsGPT-5 ChatHermes 4 405B: Text · GPT-5 Chat: Text, Images
- Self-hostingHermes 4 405BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Hermes 4 405B | GPT-5 Chat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 40 | 23 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 44 |
| Overall | 100% | 35/100 | 31/100 |
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 4 405BNous Research | GPT-5 ChatOpenAI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $1.00 (best) | $1.25 |
| Output | $3.00 (best) | $10.00 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.50 (best) | $3.44 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 5 providers | Median of 5 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 400,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 117,964 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | No |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | — |
| API providers | 5 | 5 |
| Released | Aug 26, 2025 | Aug 7, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Aug 31, 2024 | Sep 30, 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 4 405B$16.00
- GPT-5 Chat$32.50
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Hermes 4 405B or GPT-5 Chat?
Hermes 4 405B is the better all-round choice, scoring 35/100 against GPT-5 Chat (31). It leads on price. GPT-5 Chat wins on 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 4 405B or GPT-5 Chat?
Hermes 4 405B is cheaper at $1.00 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). GPT-5 Chat costs $1.25 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.50 per million tokens for Hermes 4 405B versus $3.44 for GPT-5 Chat (2.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Hermes 4 405B has not been scored yet and GPT-5 Chat has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Hermes 4 405B and GPT-5 Chat yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that GPT-5 Chat does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-5 Chat has the largest context window at 400,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Hermes 4 405B. Maximum output per response: Hermes 4 405B up to 117,964, GPT-5 Chat up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Hermes 4 405B accepts text; GPT-5 Chat accepts text and images. GPT-5 Chat handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Hermes 4 405B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-5 Chat is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Hermes 4 405B is the newest, released Aug 26, 2025. GPT-5 Chat came out Aug 7, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Hermes 4 405B Aug 31, 2024, GPT-5 Chat Sep 30, 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.
Related comparisons
- Add Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingThree-way comparison
- Hermes 4 405B vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingAlibaba (Qwen)
- Hermes 4 405B vs Apertus 70BSwiss AI
- Hermes 4 405B vs Relace SearchRelace
- Hermes 4 405B vs Kimi K2 Instruct 0905Moonshot AI
- GPT-5 Chat vs Qwen MT PlusAlibaba (Qwen)
- GPT-5 Chat vs Jamba LargeAI21 Labs
