Qwen Max vs Hermes 3 405B Instruct
Hermes 3 405B Instruct comes out ahead, 29 to 24 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Max
24/100- ECI—
- Price$1.60 / $6.40
- Context33K
- Our pick
Nous ResearchHermes 3 405B Instruct
29/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $1.00
- Context131K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Hermes 3 405B Instruct is our pick
Hermes 3 405B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 29/100 against Qwen Max (24). It leads on price and context window. Qwen Max 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 priceHermes 3 405B InstructHermes 3 405B Instruct $1.00 · Qwen Max $2.80 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextHermes 3 405B InstructHermes 3 405B Instruct 131,072 · Qwen Max 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsQwen Max: Text · Hermes 3 405B Instruct: Text
- Self-hostingHermes 3 405B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen Max | Hermes 3 405B Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 27 | 48 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 0 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 25 |
| Overall | 100% | 24/100 | 29/100 |
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 | Qwen MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | Hermes 3 405B InstructNous Research |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $1.60 | $1.00 (best) |
| Output | $6.40 | $1.00 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $2.80 | $1.00 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Median of 5 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 32,768 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 16,384 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | No |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | qwen-max | — |
| API providers | 8 (best) | 5 |
| Released | Apr 3, 2024 | Aug 16, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2024 | Dec 31, 2023 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Qwen Max$28.80
- Hermes 3 405B Instruct$12.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen Max or Hermes 3 405B Instruct?
Hermes 3 405B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 29/100 against Qwen Max (24). It leads on price and context window. Qwen Max 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, Qwen Max or Hermes 3 405B Instruct?
Hermes 3 405B Instruct is cheaper at $1.00 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). Qwen Max costs $1.60 input / $6.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.00 per million tokens for Hermes 3 405B Instruct versus $2.80 for Qwen Max (2.8× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen Max has not been scored yet and Hermes 3 405B Instruct has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen Max and Hermes 3 405B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Hermes 3 405B Instruct does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Hermes 3 405B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 32,768 for Qwen Max. Maximum output per response: Qwen Max up to 8,192, Hermes 3 405B Instruct up to 16,384 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen Max accepts text; Hermes 3 405B Instruct accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Hermes 3 405B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen Max is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Hermes 3 405B Instruct is the newest, released Aug 16, 2024. Qwen Max came out Apr 3, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen Max Apr 2024, Hermes 3 405B Instruct Dec 31, 2023.
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.
