Moondream lists 2 models and Writer 1. Moondream is cheaper on a typical model ($0.85 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
| Moondream | Writer | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 2 | 1 |
| Models with published pricing | 2 | 1 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $0.85 | $1.95 |
| Cheapest paid model | Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview ($0.85) | Writer: Palmyra X5 ($1.95) |
| Longest context | Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview (32K) | Writer: Palmyra X5 (1.0M) |
| Free models | 0 | 0 |
| Newest model | Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview (2026-10-15) | Writer: Palmyra X5 (2026-01-21) |
| 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) | Moondream | Writer |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $72.50 with Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview | $165 with Writer: Palmyra X5 |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $61.00 with Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview | $132 with Writer: Palmyra X5 |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context | no suitable model | no suitable model |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page | $39.00 with Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview | $84.00 with Writer: Palmyra X5 |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass | no suitable model | $36.00 with Writer: Palmyra X5 |
| You need | Moondream | Writer |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview ($0.85) | Writer: Palmyra X5 ($1.95) |
| With tool calling | none listed | none listed |
| With image input | Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview ($0.85) | none listed |
| With reasoning mode | Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview ($0.85) | none listed |
| 128K+ context | none listed | Writer: Palmyra X5 ($1.95) |
| 1M+ context | none listed | Writer: Palmyra X5 ($1.95) |
| Model type | Moondream | Writer |
|---|---|---|
| text+image->text | 2 | 0 |
| text->text | 0 | 1 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | Moondream | Writer |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 0 |
| Under $0.50 | 0 | 0 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 2 | 1 |
| $3 – $10 | 0 | 0 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
Moondream is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.85 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $1.95 for Writer. The cheapest paid models are Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview at $0.85 and Writer: Palmyra X5 at $1.95.
It depends on the job: Moondream offers the broader line-up (2 models vs 1), Moondream the lower typical price, Writer the longest context (1.0M tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
Moondream: Moondream lists 2 models and Writer lists 1.
Writer: Moondream's longest is Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview at 32K tokens; Writer's is Writer: Palmyra X5 at 1.0M.
Neither lists a free model; both are pay-per-token.
Moondream: 2 of 2 models accept images. Writer: 0 of 1.