Is Baidu better than Recursive?
It depends on the job: Baidu offers the broader line-up (5 models vs 1), Recursive the longest context (262K tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
Baidu vs Recursive
Baidu lists 5 models and Recursive 1. Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
At a glance
| Baidu | Recursive | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 5 | 1 |
| Models with published pricing | 5 | 1 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $0.25 | n/a |
| Cheapest paid model | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B ($0.12) | n/a |
| Longest context | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking (131K) | Recursive: Flint (free) (262K) |
| Free models | 0 | 1 |
| Newest model | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking (2025-10-09) | Recursive: Flint (free) (2026-10-21) |
| Price changes in the last 90 days | 0 | 0 |
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What each costs for real workloads
For each workload: the cheapest model from each provider that can actually do it (fits the context window; tool calling required for the agent), and its monthly cost at list price.
| Workload (per month) | Baidu | Recursive |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $10.85 with Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B | no suitable model |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $11.20 with Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B | no suitable model |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context | $11.76 with Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B | no suitable model |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page | $7.28 with Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B | no suitable model |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass | $3.78 with Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B | no suitable model |
Cheapest model for each capability
| You need | Baidu | Recursive |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B ($0.12) | none listed |
| With tool calling | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B ($0.12) | none listed |
| With image input | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 VL 28B A3B ($0.25) | none listed |
| With reasoning mode | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking ($0.12) | none listed |
| 128K+ context | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking ($0.12) | none listed |
| 1M+ context | none listed | none listed |
Line-up by type and price tier
| Model type | Baidu | Recursive |
|---|---|---|
| text+image->text | 2 | 0 |
| text->text | 3 | 1 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | Baidu | Recursive |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 1 |
| Under $0.50 | 4 | 0 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 1 | 0 |
| $3 – $10 | 0 | 0 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
Frequently asked questions
Which has more models, Baidu or Recursive?
Baidu: Baidu lists 5 models and Recursive lists 1.
Which provider has the longest context window?
Recursive: Baidu's longest is Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking at 131K tokens; Recursive's is Recursive: Flint (free) at 262K.
Do Baidu or Recursive offer free models?
Baidu: none. Recursive: 1 free model (e.g. Recursive: Flint (free)).
Which provider has models that can read images?
Baidu: 2 of 5 models accept images. Recursive: 0 of 1.