Beam 1.0 vs Solar Mini 4
Which is better for the money: Beam 1.0 by Reflection or Solar Mini 4 by Upstage? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-17.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Beam 1.0 scores 6.2 points higher (30.3 vs 24.1) but costs 1.5× as much to run the benchmark ($740 vs $502; both premium class). Pick Beam 1.0 when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Solar Mini 4.
| Metric | Beam 1.0 | Solar Mini 4 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 30.3 | 24.1 | −20.5% Solar Mini 4 is 20.5% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $739.78 | $502.02 | −32.1% Solar Mini 4 is 32.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 13.31s | 33.16s | +149.1% Solar Mini 4 is 149.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.70 / $2.10 | $0.10 / $0.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
Solar Mini 4 vs Beam 1.0: 20.5% less intelligence, 32.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 149.1% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Beam 1.0 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
- Solar Mini 4 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
Beam 1.0Solar Mini 4Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/reflection-beam/solar-mini4 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/reflection-beam/solar-mini4?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill