solar-mini vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 44). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Upstagesolar-mini
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
44/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $3.95
- Context131K
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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 44/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B on price and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking $1.36 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 131,072 · solar-mini 32,768 · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B 8,192 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinkingsolar-mini: Text · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: Text, Images · Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B: Text
- Self-hostingQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking and Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BPublishes downloadable weights (Llama 3 Community License)
| Measure | Weight | solar-mini | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking | Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 85 | 42 | 87 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 60 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 44/100 | 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 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingAlibaba (Qwen) | Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8BNous Research |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.15 | $0.50 | $0.14 (best) |
| Output | $0.15 | $3.95 | $0.14 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.15 | $1.36 | $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 | 32,768 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | 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 | Sep 23, 2025 | Apr 30, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 2024 | Mar 31, 2025 | — |
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
- Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking$12.90
- Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B$1.68
Which should you choose?
Which is better: solar-mini, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 44/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B on price and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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); Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking costs $0.50 input / $3.95 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 $1.36 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking (9.7× 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking up to 32,768, Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
solar-mini accepts text; Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking accepts text and images; Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B accepts text. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 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?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is the newest, released Sep 23, 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking Mar 31, 2025.
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.
