solar-mini vs Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 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, Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 38). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Upstagesolar-mini
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
Moonshot AIKimi K2 Instruct 0905
38/100- ECI—
- Price$0.60 / $2.50
- Context262K
Nous ResearchHermes 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, Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 38/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B on price and Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 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 · Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 $1.07 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextKimi K2 Instruct 0905Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 262,144 · solar-mini 32,768 · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 8,192 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputssolar-mini: Text · Kimi K2 Instruct 0905: Text · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B: Text
- Self-hostingKimi K2 Instruct 0905 and Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BPublishes downloadable weights (Modified MIT and Llama 3 Community License)
| Measure | Weight | solar-mini | Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 | Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 85 | 46 | 87 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 37 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 38/100 | 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 | Kimi K2 Instruct 0905Moonshot AI | Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BNous Research |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.15 | $0.60 | $0.14 (best) |
| Output | $0.15 | $2.50 | $0.14 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 | $1.07 | $0.14 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Upstage API | Median of 12 providers | Median of 2 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 32,768 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 98,304 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 | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | OpenModified MIT | OpenLlama 3 Community License |
| API model ID | solar-mini | — | — |
| API providers | 1 | 13 (best) | 2 |
| Released | Jun 12, 2024 | Sep 5, 2025 | 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
- Kimi K2 Instruct 0905$11.00
- Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B$1.68
Which should you choose?
Which is better: solar-mini, Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 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, Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 38/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B on price and Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 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, Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 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); Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 costs $0.60 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (median across 12 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 $1.07 for Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 (7.7× 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, Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 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, Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 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?
Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 has the largest context window at 262,144 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, Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 up to 98,304, Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
solar-mini accepts text; Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 accepts text; Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 and Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B publishes its weights (Modified MIT and Llama 3 Community License) and can be self-hosted; solar-mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 is the newest, released Sep 5, 2025. solar-mini came out 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.
