Nousresearch vs Reflection

Nousresearch lists 6 models and Reflection 1. Nousresearch is cheaper on a typical model ($0.70 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.

At a glance

NousresearchReflection
Models listed61
Models with published pricing61
Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M)$0.70$1.50
Cheapest paid modelNousResearch: Hermes 2 Pro - Llama-3 8B ($0.14)Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B ($1.50)
Longest contextNous: Hermes 3 405B Instruct (131K)Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B (1.0M)
Free models10
Newest modelNous: Hermes 4 405B (2025-08-26)Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B (2026-10-16)
Price changes in the last 90 days10

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)NousresearchReflection
Customer-support chatbot
50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation
$13.30 with NousResearch: Hermes 2 Pro - Llama-3 8B$135 with Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B
RAG search over documents
20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages
$18.20 with NousResearch: Hermes 2 Pro - Llama-3 8B$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
no suitable model$156 with Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B
Batch summarisation
10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page
$12.80 with Nous: Hermes 4 70B$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
$6.90 with Nous: Hermes 4 70B$53.00 with Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B

Cheapest model for each capability

You needNousresearchReflection
Any modelNousResearch: Hermes 2 Pro - Llama-3 8B ($0.14)Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B ($1.50)
With tool callingnone listedReflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B ($1.50)
With image inputnone listednone listed
With reasoning modeNous: Hermes 4 70B ($0.20)Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B ($1.50)
128K+ contextNous: Hermes 4 70B ($0.20)Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B ($1.50)
1M+ contextnone listedReflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B ($1.50)

Line-up by type and price tier

Model typeNousresearchReflection
text->text61
Price per 1M (3:1 blend)NousresearchReflection
Free10
Under $0.5020
$0.50 – $331
$3 – $1000
$10 and up00

Frequently asked questions

How does Nousresearch cost compare with Reflection cost?

Nousresearch is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.70 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $1.50 for Reflection. The cheapest paid models are NousResearch: Hermes 2 Pro - Llama-3 8B at $0.14 and Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B at $1.50.

Is Nousresearch better than Reflection?

It depends on the job: Nousresearch offers the broader line-up (6 models vs 1), Nousresearch 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.

Which has more models, Nousresearch or Reflection?

Nousresearch: Nousresearch lists 6 models and Reflection lists 1.

Which provider has the longest context window?

Reflection: Nousresearch's longest is Nous: Hermes 3 405B Instruct at 131K tokens; Reflection's is Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B at 1.0M.

Do Nousresearch or Reflection offer free models?

Nousresearch: 1 free model (e.g. Nous: Hermes 3 405B Instruct (free)). Reflection: none.

Which provider has models that can read images?

Nousresearch: 0 of 6 models accept images. Reflection: 0 of 1.

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