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Hermes 3 405B Instruct alternatives

Quick answer · Updated June 2026

The closest alternative to Hermes 3 405B Instruct is GPT-4o (2024-11-20) — comparable intelligence (17.3 vs 17.6); for a cheaper option, MiniMax M3 runs $0.300/M vs $1.00/M; for more speed, Mercury 2 hits 590 t/s; and the best open-weight substitute is MiniMax M3.

Closest match

Cheaper alternatives

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Open-source alternatives

Frequently asked

What is the best alternative to Hermes 3 405B Instruct?

GPT-4o (2024-11-20) is the closest alternative to Hermes 3 405B Instruct, with an Intelligence Index of 17.3 (Hermes 3 405B Instruct scores 17.6) at $2.50 per million input tokens.

Is there a cheaper alternative to Hermes 3 405B Instruct?

Yes — MiniMax M3 costs $0.300 per million input tokens versus $1.00 for Hermes 3 405B Instruct, while staying within ~8 points of its Intelligence Index.

Is there an open-source alternative to Hermes 3 405B Instruct?

MiniMax M3 is the strongest open-weight alternative to Hermes 3 405B Instruct — downloadable from Hugging Face and self-hostable, scoring 54.7 on intelligence.