Analysis Summary
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B is a text-only Baidu model with a 131K context window, tool use, and function calling. No intelligence, coding, agentic, or content benchmarks are supplied for this variant, so capability claims beyond its listed integration features cannot be established from the record.
The available product characteristics suggest possible use in structured automation, extraction, and routine SEO workflows where outputs can be checked. Its large context window can accommodate long briefs or documents, while function calling provides a route into operational systems. However, there is insufficient evidence to recommend it for client-facing writing, complex reasoning, software engineering, or autonomous agents.
Very low pricing improves its appeal for controlled trials and high-volume experiments. Keep deployment narrow and validation-heavy until independent benchmark and quality data becomes available.
Assessed September 7, 2026
Editorial notes
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B offers tools, function calling, a 131K context window, and very low pricing, but the supplied record contains no benchmark data to validate reasoning or writing quality.
Rankings consider pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, and real-world applicability and are refreshed as new models launch. Feedback?
DFO Verdict
ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B offers tools, function calling, a 131K context window, and very low pricing, but the supplied record contains no benchmark data to validate reasoning or writing quality.
How Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B compares
Its 131K-token context window is larger than 47% 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 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 779 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 for the hard ones. Most clients cut their estimate by 60-80%.
Talk to our teamAbout Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B
A sophisticated text-based Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) model featuring 21B total parameters with 3B activated per token, delivering exceptional multimodal understanding and generation through heterogeneous MoE structures and modality-isolated routing. Supporting an..
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Frequently asked questions about Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B
How much does Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B cost?
Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 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?
Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B has a context window of 131,072 tokens (131K).
What can Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B do?
Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B supports tool use and function calling.
Who created Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B?
Baidu: ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B is developed by Baidu and was released on August 12, 2025.
Data sourced from the OpenRouter API, Artificial Analysis, the Hugging Face Open LLM Leaderboard and our own internal testing. Scores are editorially curated by our team.
Last updated: September 18, 2026 8:38 pm