Baidu lists 5 models and Reflection 1. Baidu is cheaper on a typical model ($0.25 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
| Baidu | Reflection | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 5 | 1 |
| Models with published pricing | 5 | 1 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $0.25 | $1.50 |
| Cheapest paid model | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B ($0.12) | Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B ($1.50) |
| Longest context | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking (131K) | Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B (1.0M) |
| Free models | 0 | 0 |
| Newest model | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking (2025-10-09) | Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B (2026-10-16) |
| Price changes in the last 90 days | 0 | 0 |
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 | Reflection |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $10.85 with Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B | $135 with Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $11.20 with Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B | $150 with Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| 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 | $156 with Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page | $7.28 with Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B | $98.00 with Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| 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 | $53.00 with Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| You need | Baidu | Reflection |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B ($0.12) | Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B ($1.50) |
| With tool calling | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B ($0.12) | Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B ($1.50) |
| 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) | Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B ($1.50) |
| 128K+ context | Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking ($0.12) | Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B ($1.50) |
| 1M+ context | none listed | Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B ($1.50) |
| Model type | Baidu | Reflection |
|---|---|---|
| text+image->text | 2 | 0 |
| text->text | 3 | 1 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | Baidu | Reflection |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 0 |
| Under $0.50 | 4 | 0 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 1 | 1 |
| $3 – $10 | 0 | 0 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
Baidu is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.25 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $1.50 for Reflection. The cheapest paid models are Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B at $0.12 and Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B at $1.50.
It depends on the job: Baidu offers the broader line-up (5 models vs 1), Baidu the lower typical price, Reflection the longest context (1.0M tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
Baidu: Baidu lists 5 models and Reflection lists 1.
Reflection: Baidu's longest is Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking at 131K tokens; Reflection's is Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B at 1.0M.
Neither lists a free model; both are pay-per-token.
Baidu: 2 of 5 models accept images. Reflection: 0 of 1.