solar-mini vs Qwen-VL Plus
Qwen-VL Plus comes out ahead, 57 to 52 on our weighted score, though solar-mini is 2.1× cheaper per token.
Upstage
solar-mini
52/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen-VL Plus
57/100- ECI—
- Price$0.21 / $0.63
- Context131K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Qwen-VL Plus is our pick
Qwen-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against solar-mini (52). 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 · Qwen-VL Plus $0.315 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen-VL PlusQwen-VL Plus 131,072 · solar-mini 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen-VL Plussolar-mini: Text · Qwen-VL Plus: Text, Images
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | solar-mini | Qwen-VL Plus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 89 | 74 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 50 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 52/100 | 57/100 |
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 | Qwen-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.15 (best) | $0.21 |
| Output | $0.15 (best) | $0.63 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 (best) | $0.315 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Upstage API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 32,768 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 8,192 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | solar-mini | qwen-vl-plus |
| API providers | 1 | 2 (best) |
| Released | Jun 12, 2024 | Jan 25, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 2024 | Apr 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
- Qwen-VL Plus$3.36
Which should you choose?
Which is better: solar-mini or Qwen-VL Plus?
Qwen-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against solar-mini (52). 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, solar-mini or Qwen-VL Plus?
solar-mini is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Upstage 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 $0.315 for Qwen-VL Plus (2.1× 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 Qwen-VL Plus has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for solar-mini and Qwen-VL Plus 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?
Qwen-VL Plus has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 32,768 for solar-mini. Maximum output per response: solar-mini up to 4,096, Qwen-VL Plus up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
solar-mini accepts text; Qwen-VL Plus accepts text and images. Qwen-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. solar-mini and Qwen-VL Plus are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
solar-mini is the newest, released Jun 12, 2024. Qwen-VL Plus came out Jan 25, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: solar-mini Sep 2024, Qwen-VL Plus Apr 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 Oct 4, 2026.
