ERNIE 5.0 vs MiMo-V2.5

Baidu · China  |  Xiaomi · China · Updated June 2026

Quick verdict

Pick ERNIE 5.0 for baidu's flagship omni-modal model — text, image and video understanding or particularly strong on chinese-language reasoning tasks. Pick MiMo-V2.5 for native omnimodal — strong image and video understanding or very low cost (~half the inference of the pro tier). Choose MiMo-V2.5 if you need self-hosting or data privacy; ERNIE 5.0 if you want a managed API.

ERNIE 5.0 (Baidu) and MiMo-V2.5 (Xiaomi) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. ERNIE 5.0 is baidu's flagship omni-modal ERNIE model — strong Chinese-language and multimodal reasoning at low cost, though it trails the Western frontier on independent benchmarks. MiMo-V2.5 is xiaomi's cheap omnimodal model — Pro-level agentic perception across image and video at a fraction of the cost. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.

Key differences at a glance

Side-by-side specs

SpecERNIE 5.0MiMo-V2.5
ProviderBaidu (China) Xiaomi (China)
ReleasedJanuary 22, 2026 April 22, 2026
Context window128K (~192 pages) 1M (~1,500 pages)
Price (in/out)$0.6/$2.1 per 1M tokens $0.14/$0.28 per 1M tokens
Open weight?No — API only Yes — self-hostable
Modalitiestext, image, video, code text, image, audio, video, code
SWE-Bench VerifiedNot published Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1MNot published Not published

Who wins what

Baidu's flagship omni-modal model — text, image and video understanding

ERNIE 5.0

ERNIE 5.0 lists baidu's flagship omni-modal model — text, image and video understanding among its strengths; MiMo-V2.5 does not.

Particularly strong on Chinese-language reasoning tasks

ERNIE 5.0

MiMo-V2.5 is comparatively weak here — not the deepest reasoning tier (see V2.5-Pro)

Competitive API pricing (around $0.60/$2.10 per million tokens)

ERNIE 5.0

ERNIE 5.0 lists competitive API pricing (around $0.60/$2.10 per million tokens) among its strengths; MiMo-V2.5 does not.

Native omnimodal — strong image and video understanding

MiMo-V2.5

Xiaomi's cheap omnimodal model — Pro-level agentic perception across image and video at a fraction of the cost — and it runs cheaper at $0.14/$0.28 per 1M tokens.

Very low cost (~half the inference of the Pro tier)

MiMo-V2.5

At $0.14/$0.28 per 1M tokens it undercuts ERNIE 5.0 ($0.6/$2.1 per 1M tokens), and that gap compounds at volume.

Agent-framework integration

MiMo-V2.5

Xiaomi's cheap omnimodal model — Pro-level agentic perception across image and video at a fraction of the cost — and it carries the larger 1M context.

Lowest cost at scale

MiMo-V2.5

At $0.14/$0.28 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.

Largest single-prompt input

MiMo-V2.5

Its 1M window is about 7.8× larger than ERNIE 5.0's 128K, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.

Which should you pick?

A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume

MiMo-V2.5

At $0.14/$0.28 per 1M tokens it undercuts ERNIE 5.0, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.

Someone analysing very long documents or codebases

MiMo-V2.5

Larger 1M window fits more in one prompt.

A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs

MiMo-V2.5

Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; ERNIE 5.0 is API-only.

Anyone whose priority is baidu's flagship omni-modal model — text, image and video understanding

ERNIE 5.0

It is specifically built for that.

Anyone whose priority is native omnimodal — strong image and video understanding

MiMo-V2.5

That is its strongest area.

ERNIE 5.0: where it fits

Baidu's flagship omni-modal ERNIE model — strong Chinese-language and multimodal reasoning at low cost, though it trails the Western frontier on independent benchmarks. Released January 22, 2026 by Baidu, it is built for baidu's flagship omni-modal model — text, image and video understanding, particularly strong on Chinese-language reasoning tasks, competitive API pricing (around $0.60/$2.10 per million tokens), and backed by a major lab with deep China-market integration.

Its trade-offs are real: trails the Western frontier on aggregate independent tests (AA Intelligence Index ~22 for the tracked Thinking Preview), parameter and architecture details are vendor-stated and opaque, closed weights on a China-hosted API, and 128K context is smaller than 1M-token rivals. At $0.6 in / $2.1 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.

MiMo-V2.5: where it fits

Xiaomi's cheap omnimodal model — Pro-level agentic perception across image and video at a fraction of the cost. Released April 22, 2026 by Xiaomi, it is built for native omnimodal — strong image and video understanding, very low cost (~half the inference of the Pro tier), agent-framework integration, and 1M context for full documents in one pass.

Its trade-offs: not the deepest reasoning tier (see V2.5-Pro), and limited Western tooling and support. At $0.14 in / $0.28 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.

The bottom line for this matchup

The defining split here is open vs. closed. MiMo-V2.5 gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. ERNIE 5.0 gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.

Want both ERNIE 5.0 and MiMo-V2.5 without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.

See pricing

Frequently asked questions

Is ERNIE 5.0 or MiMo-V2.5 better for coding?

Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, ERNIE 5.0 leans toward baidu's flagship omni-modal model — text, image and video understanding while MiMo-V2.5 leans toward native omnimodal — strong image and video understanding, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.

Which is cheaper, ERNIE 5.0 or MiMo-V2.5?

MiMo-V2.5 is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while ERNIE 5.0 is API-metered at $0.6/$2.1 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.

Which has the bigger context window?

MiMo-V2.5 — 1M vs 128K, about 7.8× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.

Can I use both ERNIE 5.0 and MiMo-V2.5 together?

Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you ERNIE 5.0, MiMo-V2.5 and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.

Which is newer, ERNIE 5.0 or MiMo-V2.5?

MiMo-V2.5 — released April 22, 2026, about 3 months after ERNIE 5.0.

Related comparisons

Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.