Solar Mini
Analysis Summary
Solar Mini is an Upstage model released in January 2024. Its measured intelligence is limited, while the available evaluation record contains only a small amount of evidence beyond a modest tool-oriented result. The supplied pricing of 0.15 for both input and output is its clearest practical advantage.
That cost profile makes it worth considering for simple classification, templated generation, short summaries, and other repetitive tasks where quality controls are straightforward. It is not suitable as a general agency assistant for complex reasoning, coding, long documents, or autonomous workflows. Use it only with constrained prompts, automated checks, and human review for anything client-facing.
Assessed September 7, 2026
Editorial notes
Solar Mini is a low-cost, lightweight model with limited measured intelligence and minimal supporting benchmark evidence. Its economics suit simple text automation, but not complex reasoning or technical client work.
Rankings consider pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, and real-world applicability and are refreshed as new models launch. Feedback?
DFO Verdict
Solar Mini is a low-cost, lightweight model with limited measured intelligence and minimal supporting benchmark evidence. Its economics suit simple text automation, but not complex reasoning or technical client work.
Benchmark scores
Magenta = intelligence · Ink = technical/agentic · Cyan = content & long-context · Grey = community benchmarks. Data: Artificial Analysis, Hugging Face.
6.4 Intelligence Index
How Solar Mini compares
Solar Mini ranks #349 of 438 AI models we track for overall intelligence. At $0.15 per million input tokens it is cheaper than 60% 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 | $0.15 | $0.000150 |
| Output | $0.15 | $0.000150 |
What would Solar Mini 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 Solar Mini for the hard ones. Most clients cut their estimate by 60-80%.
Talk to our teamFrequently asked questions about Solar Mini
How much does Solar Mini cost?
Solar Mini costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens.
Who created Solar Mini?
Solar Mini is developed by Upstage and was released on January 25, 2024.