solar-mini vs Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite vs Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 82 to 51 and 50 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Upstagesolar-mini
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.0 Flash-Lite
82/100- ECI—
- Price$0.064 / $0.255
- Context1.05M
Nous ResearchHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B
51/100- ECI—
- Price$0.14 / $0.14
- Context8K
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite is our pick
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 82/100 against Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B (51) and solar-mini (50). It leads on price, 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 priceGemini 2.0 Flash-LiteGemini 2.0 Flash-Lite $0.111 · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B $0.14 · solar-mini $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 2.0 Flash-LiteGemini 2.0 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · solar-mini 32,768 · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 8,192 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.0 Flash-Litesolar-mini: Text · Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B: Text
- Self-hostingHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BPublishes downloadable weights (Llama 3 Community License)
| Measure | Weight | solar-mini | Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite | Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 85 | 91 | 87 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 80 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 61 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 82/100 | 51/100 |
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 | solar-miniUpstage | Gemini 2.0 Flash-LiteGoogle | Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BNous Research |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.15 | $0.064 (best) | $0.14 |
| Output | $0.15 | $0.255 | $0.14 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 | $0.111 (best) | $0.14 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Upstage API | Median of 2 providers | Median of 2 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 32,768 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 8,192 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | Yes | No |
| Video | No | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | OpenLlama 3 Community License |
| API model ID | solar-mini | — | — |
| API providers | 1 | 3 (best) | 2 |
| Released | Jun 12, 2024 | Dec 11, 2024 | Apr 30, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 2024 | Jun 2024 | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- solar-mini$1.80
- Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite$1.15
- Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B$1.68
Which should you choose?
Which is better: solar-mini, Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite or Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B?
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 82/100 against Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B (51) and solar-mini (50). It leads on price, 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, solar-mini, Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite or Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B?
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite is cheaper at $0.064 input / $0.255 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B costs $0.14 input / $0.14 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers); solar-mini costs $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.111 per million tokens for Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite versus $0.14 for Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B (1.3× as much) and $0.15 for solar-mini (1.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. solar-mini has not been scored yet, Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite has not been scored yet and Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for solar-mini, Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite and Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 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?
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 32,768 for solar-mini and 8,192 for Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B. Maximum output per response: solar-mini up to 4,096, Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite up to 8,192, Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
solar-mini accepts text; Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B accepts text. Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B publishes its weights (Llama 3 Community License) and can be self-hosted; solar-mini and Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite is the newest, released Dec 11, 2024. solar-mini came out Jun 12, 2024; Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B came out Apr 30, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: solar-mini Sep 2024, Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite Jun 2024.
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.
