Solar Pro 3 vs Qwen3.5-27B
Side-by-side comparison of API pricing, specs, benchmarks, and capabilities
Solar Pro 3 is 68.2% cheaper on blended cost ($0.262 vs $0.825/Mtok)
| Specification |
by Upstage
|
by Alibaba
|
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Status | Current mid tier | Current mid tier Open weights |
| Released | Jan 26, 2026 | Feb 25, 2026 |
| Pricing per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.150/Mtok | $0.300/Mtok |
| Output | $0.600/Mtok | $2.40/Mtok |
| Blended avg | $0.262/Mtok | $0.825/Mtok |
| Cached input | $0.015/Mtok | — |
| Price basis | Upstage's own pricing page list price, per 1M tokens (input $0.15, cached input $0.015, output $0.60), which OpenRouter matches exactly. Upstage states that all prices shown are exclusive of 10% VAT, so a VAT-liable invoice runs 10% above the tracked rate. Third-party catalogue models.dev disagrees, listing this SKU at a flat $0.25 in and out; the vendor's own page is the source of record here. Solar Pro 2 is listed by Upstage at the same $0.15/$0.60. Upstage published Solar Pro 4 on 2026-08-11 (tracked as upstage-solar-pro-4) and Solar Pro 3 remains listed at this price alongside it; the earlier note here, that no 'Solar Pro 4' appeared on Upstage's own pricing page as of 2026-08-07, was true when written and is superseded by that launch. Upstage's pricing page moved to /pricing/api — the bare /pricing URL cited here previously now 404s. | Alibaba Model Studio International list price, single 0<Token≤256K tier, from the vendor's open-source Qwen table. Thinking-mode output is billed at the same rate as non-thinking. No context-cache or batch rate is printed for this SKU, so cached input is left unset rather than assumed. Gateway resellers quote lower routed rates ($0.195/$1.56). This SKU's row carries no discount label, so the standard list rate is the one tracked here — the same basis as every other Alibaba row on this site. |
| Specifications | ||
| Context window | 131K tokens | 262K tokens |
| Parameters | 102B (12B active) | 27B |
| Speed (TPS) | — | — |
| Modalities | ||
| Input |
text
|
text
|
| Benchmarks source: Artificial Analysis | ||
| Independent composite scores measured for both models — each on its own scale | ||
| AA-Omniscience Index (−100–100) | -53.4 | -44 |
| AA Intelligence Index | 14.5 | — |
| AA Agentic Index | 2.9 | — |
| LMSYS Chatbot Arena | — | 1408 ELO |
| Providers | ||
| Available from |
Upstage — $0.150/$0.600/Mtok
|
Alibaba — $0.300/$2.40/Mtok
|
Cost at scale
1M tokens · 50/50 input/output| Volume | Solar Pro 3 | Qwen3.5-27B | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1M tokens | $0.26 | $0.83 | $0.56 (67.9%) |
| 10M tokens | $2.62 | $8.25 | $5.63 (68.2%) |
| 100M tokens | $26.25 | $82.5 | $56.25 (68.2%) |
| 1000M tokens | $262.5 | $825 | $562.5 (68.2%) |
When to pick which
distilled from the pricing and spec data above
Pick Solar Pro 3 if…
- cost dominates: $0.262/Mtok blended vs $0.825 — 68.2% less on the same 50/50 token mix
- your workload re-reads context (agents, RAG, long chats): cached input costs $0.015/Mtok — 90% off its list input price, a discount Qwen3.5-27B doesn't offer
Pick Qwen3.5-27B if…
- you need the longer context: 262K tokens vs 131K (2×)
- you want open weights — self-host it, fine-tune it, or exit the API entirely; Solar Pro 3 is closed
Summary
Solar Pro 3 by Upstage costs $0.150/Mtok input and $0.600/Mtok output, with a 131K-token context window. It supports text input.
Qwen3.5-27B by Alibaba costs $0.300/Mtok input and $2.40/Mtok output, with a 262K-token context window. It supports text input.
On a blended cost basis, Solar Pro 3 is 68.2% cheaper than Qwen3.5-27B.
Note: Pricing is per million tokens. Actual costs vary with usage patterns, prompt caching, and batch discounts. Always verify against official provider pricing pages.
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