ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

MiniCPM5-2B vs Qwen3.8 Flash Next vs Solar Pro 4

Qwen3.8 Flash Next comes out ahead, 70 to 55 and 53 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. OpenBMB

    MiniCPM5-2B

    Released Sep 6, 2026

    53/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.124 / $0.743
    • Context131K
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Flash Next

    Released Aug 27, 2026

    70/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $0.50
    • Context262K
  3. Upstage

    Solar Pro 4

    Released Aug 6, 2026

    55/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $1.20
    • Context524K
01 — Verdict

Qwen3.8 Flash Next is our pick

Qwen3.8 Flash Next is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against Solar Pro 4 (55) and MiniCPM5-2B (53). It leads on inputs & features. Solar Pro 4 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 priceQwen3.8 Flash NextQwen3.8 Flash Next $0.275 · MiniCPM5-2B $0.279 · Solar Pro 4 $0.525 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextSolar Pro 4Solar Pro 4 524,288 · Qwen3.8 Flash Next 262,144 · MiniCPM5-2B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.8 Flash NextMiniCPM5-2B: Text · Qwen3.8 Flash Next: Text, Images, Video · Solar Pro 4: Text
  • Self-hostingMiniCPM5-2B and Qwen3.8 Flash NextPublishes downloadable weights (apache-2.0 and qwen-community-1.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMiniCPM5-2BQwen3.8 Flash NextSolar Pro 4
Price50%767663
Inputs & features30%358045
Context window20%243749
Overall100%53/10070/10055/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

MiniCPM5-2B vs Qwen3.8 Flash Next vs Solar Pro 4 specifications side by side
SpecificationMiniCPM5-2BOpenBMBQwen3.8 Flash NextAlibaba (Qwen)Solar Pro 4Upstage
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.124 (best)$0.20$0.30
Output$0.743$0.50 (best)$1.20
Cached input——$0.06
Blended (3:1)$0.279$0.275 (best)$0.525
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersMedian of 5 providersOfficial Upstage API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens262,144 tokens524,288 tokens (best)
Max output131,072 tokens131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoYesNo
ReasoningYesYesYesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · max
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenapache-2.0Openqwen-community-1.0Proprietary
API model ID——solar-pro4
API providers15 (best)3
ReleasedSep 6, 2026Aug 27, 2026Aug 6, 2026
Knowledge cutoff——Feb 2026
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • MiniCPM5-2B$2.73
  • Qwen3.8 Flash Next$3.00
  • Solar Pro 4$5.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: MiniCPM5-2B, Qwen3.8 Flash Next or Solar Pro 4?

Qwen3.8 Flash Next is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against Solar Pro 4 (55) and MiniCPM5-2B (53). It leads on inputs & features. Solar Pro 4 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, MiniCPM5-2B, Qwen3.8 Flash Next or Solar Pro 4?

Qwen3.8 Flash Next is cheaper at $0.20 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). MiniCPM5-2B costs $0.124 input / $0.743 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Solar Pro 4 costs $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.275 per million tokens for Qwen3.8 Flash Next versus $0.279 for MiniCPM5-2B (1× as much) and $0.525 for Solar Pro 4 (1.9× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. MiniCPM5-2B has not been scored yet, Qwen3.8 Flash Next has not been scored yet and Solar Pro 4 has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for MiniCPM5-2B, Qwen3.8 Flash Next and Solar Pro 4 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?

Solar Pro 4 has the largest context window at 524,288 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.8 Flash Next and 131,072 for MiniCPM5-2B. Maximum output per response: MiniCPM5-2B up to 131,072, Qwen3.8 Flash Next up to 131,072, Solar Pro 4 up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

MiniCPM5-2B accepts text; Qwen3.8 Flash Next accepts text, images and video; Solar Pro 4 accepts text. Qwen3.8 Flash Next handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

MiniCPM5-2B and Qwen3.8 Flash Next publishes its weights (apache-2.0 and qwen-community-1.0) and can be self-hosted; Solar Pro 4 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

MiniCPM5-2B is the newest, released Sep 6, 2026. Qwen3.8 Flash Next came out Aug 27, 2026; Solar Pro 4 came out Aug 6, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Solar Pro 4 Feb 2026.

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 Oct 4, 2026.