Hermes 4 405B vs solar-mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
solar-mini comes out ahead, 50 to 44 and 35 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Nous ResearchHermes 4 405B
35/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $3.00
- Context131K
- Our pick
Upstagesolar-mini
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
44/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $3.95
- Context131K
solar-mini is our pick
solar-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking (44) and Hermes 4 405B (35). It leads on price. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking wins on inputs & features. 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 pricesolar-minisolar-mini $0.15 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking $1.36 · Hermes 4 405B $1.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextHermes 4 405B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingHermes 4 405B 131,072 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 131,072 · solar-mini 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingHermes 4 405B: Text · solar-mini: Text · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: Text, Images
- Self-hostingHermes 4 405B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Hermes 4 405B | solar-mini | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 40 | 85 | 42 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 25 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 0 | 25 |
| Overall | 100% | 35/100 | 50/100 | 44/100 |
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 | solar-miniUpstage | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.00 | $0.15 (best) | $0.50 |
| Output | $3.00 | $0.15 (best) | $3.95 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.50 | $0.15 (best) | $1.36 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 5 providers | Official Upstage API | Median of 5 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 117,964 tokens (best) | 4,096 tokens | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | — | solar-mini | — |
| API providers | 5 (best) | 1 | 5 (best) |
| Released | Aug 26, 2025 | Jun 12, 2024 | Sep 23, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Aug 31, 2024 | Sep 2024 | Mar 31, 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
- solar-mini$1.80
- Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking$12.90
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Hermes 4 405B, solar-mini or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?
solar-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking (44) and Hermes 4 405B (35). It leads on price. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking wins on inputs & features. 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, solar-mini or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?
solar-mini is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking costs $0.50 input / $3.95 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers); Hermes 4 405B costs $1.00 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for solar-mini versus $1.36 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking (9.1× as much) and $1.50 for Hermes 4 405B (10× 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, solar-mini has not been scored yet and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Hermes 4 405B, solar-mini and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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?
Hermes 4 405B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking have the largest context windows (131,072 and 131,072 tokens), against 32,768 for solar-mini. Maximum output per response: Hermes 4 405B up to 117,964, solar-mini up to 4,096, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Hermes 4 405B accepts text; solar-mini accepts text; Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking accepts text and images. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Hermes 4 405B and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; solar-mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Hermes 4 405B came out Aug 26, 2025; solar-mini came out Jun 12, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Hermes 4 405B Aug 31, 2024, solar-mini Sep 2024, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking Mar 31, 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.
