Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking
Analysis Summary
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking is a text model from Baidu with a 131K context window and exceptionally low listed pricing. This record contains no benchmark results, tool-use support, function calling, or multimodal capability, so its reasoning quality and workflow reliability cannot be established from the available evidence.
The most appropriate role is low-risk drafting, classification, summarisation, and internal experimentation where outputs are checked before use. Its pricing could support high-volume traffic, but the lack of measured capability makes it unsuitable as a default model for nuanced client content, coding, or autonomous operations. Run task-specific evaluations before adoption, and keep a stronger fallback model for anything involving strategy, factual risk, or direct publication.
Assessed August 9, 2026
Editorial notes
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking has very low listed pricing and a 131K context, which suit experimentation and volume tasks. No benchmark or tool-use data is supplied, so production capability is unverified.
Rankings consider pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, and real-world applicability and are refreshed as new models launch. Feedback?
DFO Verdict
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking has very low listed pricing and a 131K context, which suit experimentation and volume tasks. No benchmark or tool-use data is supplied, so production capability is unverified.
How Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking compares
Its 131K-token context window is larger than 51% of the models we list. At $0.07 per million input tokens it is cheaper than 73% of comparable models.
Dark bar = input · light bar = output, scaled to the priciest peer.
1M tokens ≈ 8 full-length novels or ~2,500 pages of business documents in a single request.
Strongest on value. The pulled-in technical corner is the trade-off, and if the shape matters more than the price, this is your model.
Compare shapes side-by-side →Pricing
| Token Type | Cost per 1M tokens | Cost per 1K tokens |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $0.07 | $0.000070 |
| Output | $0.28 | $0.000280 |
What would Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking cost your business?
Pick the job that looks most like yours, then fine-tune with the sliders. Estimates update live.
A website chatbot handling around 100 customer conversations a day, a few short messages each.
Full calculator with 688 models → Price Calculator
These numbers get smaller with the right architecture.
We route routine calls to cheap models and save Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking for the hard ones. Most clients cut their estimate by 60-80%.
Talk to our teamAbout Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking
ERNIE-4.5-21B-A3B-Thinking is Baidu's upgraded lightweight MoE model, refined to boost reasoning depth and quality for top-tier performance in logical puzzles, math, science, coding, text generation, and expert-level academic benchmarks.
Frequently asked questions about Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking
How much does Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking cost?
Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking costs $0.07 per million input tokens and $0.28 per million output tokens.
What is the context window of Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking?
Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking has a context window of 131,072 tokens (131K).
Who created Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking?
Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking is developed by Baidu and was released on October 9, 2025.
