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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

MiniCPM5-2B vs Qwen3.8 Flash Next vs Toast 1

Qwen3.8 Flash Next comes out ahead, 70 to 53 and 47 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. Mixedbread

    Toast 1

    Released Aug 13, 2026

    47/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $0.72
    • Context131K
01 — Verdict

Qwen3.8 Flash Next is our pick

Qwen3.8 Flash Next is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against MiniCPM5-2B (53) and Toast 1 (47). It leads on inputs & features and 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 · Toast 1 $0.405 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.8 Flash NextQwen3.8 Flash Next 262,144 · MiniCPM5-2B 131,072 · Toast 1 131,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.8 Flash NextMiniCPM5-2B: Text · Qwen3.8 Flash Next: Text, Images, Video · Toast 1: 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 NextToast 1
Price50%767668
Inputs & features30%358025
Context window20%243724
Overall100%53/10070/10047/100

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 Toast 1 specifications side by side
SpecificationMiniCPM5-2BOpenBMBQwen3.8 Flash NextAlibaba (Qwen)Toast 1Mixedbread
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.124 (best)$0.20$0.30
Output$0.743$0.50 (best)$0.72
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.279$0.275 (best)$0.405
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersMedian of 5 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens262,144 tokens (best)131,000 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens (best)131,072 tokens (best)4,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoYesNo
ReasoningYesYesNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenapache-2.0Openqwen-community-1.0Proprietary
API model ID———
API providers15 (best)1
ReleasedSep 6, 2026Aug 27, 2026Aug 13, 2026
Knowledge cutoff———
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
  • Toast 1$4.44
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: MiniCPM5-2B, Qwen3.8 Flash Next or Toast 1?

Qwen3.8 Flash Next is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against MiniCPM5-2B (53) and Toast 1 (47). It leads on inputs & features and 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 Toast 1?

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); Toast 1 costs $0.30 input / $0.72 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). 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 $0.405 for Toast 1 (1.5× 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 Toast 1 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 Toast 1 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?

Qwen3.8 Flash Next has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for MiniCPM5-2B and 131,000 for Toast 1. Maximum output per response: MiniCPM5-2B up to 131,072, Qwen3.8 Flash Next up to 131,072, Toast 1 up to 4,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

MiniCPM5-2B accepts text; Qwen3.8 Flash Next accepts text, images and video; Toast 1 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; Toast 1 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

MiniCPM5-2B is the newest, released Sep 6, 2026. Qwen3.8 Flash Next came out Aug 27, 2026; Toast 1 came out Aug 13, 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.