solar-mini vs Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B
Too close to call on our weighted score (Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 51, solar-mini 50). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Upstage
solar-mini
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
Nous Research
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B
51/100- ECI—
- Price$0.14 / $0.14
- Context8K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 51/100, solar-mini 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B on price and solar-mini for long inputs. 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 2 Pro Llama 3 8BHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B $0.14 · solar-mini $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextsolar-minisolar-mini 32,768 · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 8,192 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputssolar-mini: Text · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B: Text
- Self-hostingHermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BPublishes downloadable weights (Llama 3 Community License)
| Measure | Weight | solar-mini | Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 85 | 87 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 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 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.15 | $0.14 (best) |
| Output | $0.15 | $0.14 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 | $0.14 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Upstage API | Median of 2 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 32,768 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 8,192 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 | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | OpenLlama 3 Community License |
| API model ID | solar-mini | — |
| API providers | 1 | 2 (best) |
| Released | Jun 12, 2024 | Apr 30, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 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
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B$1.68
Which should you choose?
Which is better: solar-mini or Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 51/100, solar-mini 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B on price and solar-mini for long inputs. 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 or Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B?
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B is cheaper at $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 $0.14 per million tokens for Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B versus $0.15 for solar-mini (1.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. solar-mini 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 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. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
solar-mini has the largest context window at 32,768 tokens, against 8,192 for Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B. Maximum output per response: solar-mini up to 4,096, Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
solar-mini accepts text; Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
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 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
solar-mini is the newest, released Jun 12, 2024. Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B came out Apr 30, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: solar-mini Sep 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.