Open-Source Nous Models

Quick answer · Updated June 2026

The best open-weight Nous model is Hermes 4 405B (18.6 intelligence) — downloadable from Hugging Face and self-hostable. Hermes 3 405B Instruct (free) (17.6) and Hermes 3 405B Instruct (17.6) round out the top three.

18.6Intelligence

24 t/sSpeed

$1.00Input /M

131KContext

The best open-weight AI models — downloadable from Hugging Face and self-hostable — ranked by intelligence. Open-source alternatives to proprietary frontier models.

Frequently asked

What is the best open-source Nous model?

What's a good alternative to Hermes 4 405B?

Hermes 3 405B Instruct (free) (17.6) is the closest alternative on this metric, followed by Hermes 3 405B Instruct (17.6). See the full ranking above for the tradeoffs.

How many Nous models are there?

modelgrep tracks 5 Nous models with live benchmarks, speed, latency and per-provider pricing, led on intelligence by Hermes 4 405B. 5 of them qualify for this ranking.

More Nous rankings

Nous: Smartest LLMs Nous: Best LLMs for Coding Nous: Best LLMs for Design & Frontend Nous: Fastest LLMs Nous: Lowest-Latency LLMs Nous: Cheapest LLMs Nous: Best Free LLMs Nous: Best Reasoning LLMs Nous: Best Vision LLMs Nous: Best LLMs for Agents Nous: Longest-Context LLMs

All rankings

Small & Fast LLMs Smartest LLMs Best LLMs for Coding Best LLMs for Design & Frontend Fastest LLMs Lowest-Latency LLMs Cheapest LLMs Best Free LLMs Best Reasoning LLMs Best Vision LLMs Best LLMs for Agents Longest-Context LLMs