Qwen-VL Plus vs solar-mini vs Mistral 7B
Qwen-VL Plus comes out ahead, 57 to 52 and 47 on our weighted score, though solar-mini is 2.1× cheaper per token.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen-VL Plus
57/100- ECI—
- Price$0.21 / $0.63
- Context131K
Upstage
solar-mini
52/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
Mistral AIMistral 7B
47/100- ECI—
- Price$0.25 / $0.25
- Context8K
Qwen-VL Plus is our pick
Qwen-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against solar-mini (52) and Mistral 7B (47). It leads on inputs & features and context window. solar-mini 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 pricesolar-minisolar-mini $0.15 · Mistral 7B $0.25 · Qwen-VL Plus $0.315 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen-VL PlusQwen-VL Plus 131,072 · solar-mini 32,768 · Mistral 7B 8,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen-VL PlusQwen-VL Plus: Text, Images · solar-mini: Text · Mistral 7B: Text
- Self-hostingMistral 7BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen-VL Plus | solar-mini | Mistral 7B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 74 | 89 | 78 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 50 | 25 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 57/100 | 52/100 | 47/100 |
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-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen) | solar-miniUpstage | Mistral 7BMistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.21 | $0.15 (best) | $0.25 |
| Output | $0.63 | $0.15 (best) | $0.25 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.315 | $0.15 (best) | $0.25 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Upstage API | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens | 8,000 tokens |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens (best) | 4,096 tokens | 8,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | qwen-vl-plus | solar-mini | open-mistral-7b |
| API providers | 2 (best) | 1 | 1 |
| Released | Jan 25, 2024 | Jun 12, 2024 | Sep 27, 2023 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2024 | Sep 2024 | Dec 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-VL Plus$3.36
- solar-mini$1.80
- Mistral 7B$3.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen-VL Plus, solar-mini or Mistral 7B?
Qwen-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against solar-mini (52) and Mistral 7B (47). It leads on inputs & features and context window. solar-mini 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, Qwen-VL Plus, solar-mini or Mistral 7B?
solar-mini is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price). Mistral 7B costs $0.25 input / $0.25 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); Qwen-VL Plus costs $0.21 input / $0.63 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for solar-mini versus $0.25 for Mistral 7B (1.7× as much) and $0.315 for Qwen-VL Plus (2.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen-VL Plus has not been scored yet, solar-mini has not been scored yet and Mistral 7B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen-VL Plus, solar-mini and Mistral 7B 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?
Qwen-VL Plus has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 32,768 for solar-mini and 8,000 for Mistral 7B. Maximum output per response: Qwen-VL Plus up to 8,192, solar-mini up to 4,096, Mistral 7B up to 8,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen-VL Plus accepts text and images; solar-mini accepts text; Mistral 7B accepts text. Qwen-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Mistral 7B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen-VL Plus and solar-mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
solar-mini is the newest, released Jun 12, 2024. Qwen-VL Plus came out Jan 25, 2024; Mistral 7B came out Sep 27, 2023. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen-VL Plus Apr 2024, solar-mini Sep 2024, Mistral 7B Dec 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 Oct 4, 2026.
