Hermes 4 405B vs Palmyra X5 vs Qwen3 Coder Plus
Palmyra X5 comes out ahead, 47 to 37 and 35 on our weighted score, though Hermes 4 405B is 23% cheaper per token.
Nous ResearchHermes 4 405B
35/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $3.00
- Context131K
- Our pick
Writer
Palmyra X5
47/100- ECI—
- Price$0.60 / $6.00
- Context1M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 Coder Plus
37/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $5.00
- Context1.05M
Palmyra X5 is our pick
Palmyra X5 is the better all-round choice, scoring 47/100 against Qwen3 Coder Plus (37) and Hermes 4 405B (35). It leads on inputs & features. Hermes 4 405B 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 priceHermes 4 405BHermes 4 405B $1.50 · Palmyra X5 $1.95 · Qwen3 Coder Plus $2.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3 Coder PlusQwen3 Coder Plus 1,048,576 · Palmyra X5 1,000,000 · Hermes 4 405B 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsPalmyra X5Hermes 4 405B: Text · Palmyra X5: Text, Images · Qwen3 Coder Plus: Text
- Self-hostingHermes 4 405BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Hermes 4 405B | Palmyra X5 | Qwen3 Coder Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 40 | 35 | 34 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 60 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 60 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 35/100 | 47/100 | 37/100 |
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 | Palmyra X5Writer | Qwen3 Coder PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.00 | $0.60 (best) | $1.00 |
| Output | $3.00 (best) | $6.00 | $5.00 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.50 (best) | $1.95 | $2.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 5 providers | Median of 4 providers | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 117,964 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens | 65,536 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 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | — | qwen3-coder-plus |
| API providers | 5 (best) | 4 | 5 (best) |
| Released | Aug 26, 2025 | Apr 28, 2025 | Jul 23, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Aug 31, 2024 | — | Apr 2025 |
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
- Palmyra X5$18.00
- Qwen3 Coder Plus$20.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Hermes 4 405B, Palmyra X5 or Qwen3 Coder Plus?
Palmyra X5 is the better all-round choice, scoring 47/100 against Qwen3 Coder Plus (37) and Hermes 4 405B (35). It leads on inputs & features. Hermes 4 405B 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 4 405B, Palmyra X5 or Qwen3 Coder Plus?
Hermes 4 405B is cheaper at $1.00 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). Palmyra X5 costs $0.60 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers); Qwen3 Coder Plus costs $1.00 input / $5.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.50 per million tokens for Hermes 4 405B versus $1.95 for Palmyra X5 (1.3× as much) and $2.00 for Qwen3 Coder Plus (1.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Hermes 4 405B has not been scored yet, Palmyra X5 has not been scored yet and Qwen3 Coder Plus has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Hermes 4 405B, Palmyra X5 and Qwen3 Coder Plus 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 Coder Plus has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Palmyra X5 and 131,072 for Hermes 4 405B. Maximum output per response: Hermes 4 405B up to 117,964, Palmyra X5 up to 8,192, Qwen3 Coder Plus up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Hermes 4 405B accepts text; Palmyra X5 accepts text and images; Qwen3 Coder Plus accepts text. Palmyra X5 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Hermes 4 405B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Palmyra X5 and Qwen3 Coder Plus is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Hermes 4 405B is the newest, released Aug 26, 2025. Qwen3 Coder Plus came out Jul 23, 2025; Palmyra X5 came out Apr 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Hermes 4 405B Aug 31, 2024, Qwen3 Coder Plus Apr 2025.
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.
