solar-mini vs Hermes 3 405B Instruct 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, Hermes 3 405B Instruct 29). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Upstagesolar-mini
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
Nous ResearchHermes 3 405B Instruct
29/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $1.00
- Context131K
- Nous Research
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B
51/100- ECI—
- Price$0.14 / $0.14
- Context8K
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, Hermes 3 405B Instruct 29/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B on price and Hermes 3 405B Instruct 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 · Hermes 3 405B Instruct $1.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextHermes 3 405B InstructHermes 3 405B Instruct 131,072 · solar-mini 32,768 · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 8,192 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputssolar-mini: Text · Hermes 3 405B Instruct: Text · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B: Text
- Self-hostingHermes 3 405B Instruct and Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BPublishes downloadable weights (Llama 3 Community License)
| Measure | Weight | solar-mini | Hermes 3 405B Instruct | Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 85 | 48 | 87 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 0 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 29/100 | 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 | Hermes 3 405B InstructNous Research | Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BNous Research |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.15 | $1.00 | $0.14 (best) |
| Output | $0.15 | $1.00 | $0.14 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 | $1.00 | $0.14 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Upstage API | Median of 5 providers | Median of 2 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 32,768 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 16,384 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | No | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | OpenLlama 3 Community License |
| API model ID | solar-mini | — | — |
| API providers | 1 | 5 (best) | 2 |
| Released | Jun 12, 2024 | Aug 16, 2024 | Apr 30, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 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.
- solar-mini$1.80
- Hermes 3 405B Instruct$12.00
- Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B$1.68
Which should you choose?
Which is better: solar-mini, Hermes 3 405B Instruct 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, Hermes 3 405B Instruct 29/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B on price and Hermes 3 405B Instruct 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, Hermes 3 405B Instruct 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); Hermes 3 405B Instruct costs $1.00 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). 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) and $1.00 for Hermes 3 405B Instruct (7.1× 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, Hermes 3 405B Instruct 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, Hermes 3 405B Instruct 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. 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 solar-mini and 8,192 for Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B. Maximum output per response: solar-mini up to 4,096, Hermes 3 405B Instruct up to 16,384, Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
solar-mini accepts text; Hermes 3 405B Instruct 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 3 405B Instruct and 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?
Hermes 3 405B Instruct is the newest, released Aug 16, 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, 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.
