Hunyuan Hy4 vs LongCat-2.0
Tencent · China | Meituan · China · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Hunyuan Hy4 for first hunyuan model with vision and computer use, adding image input to the text-only hy4 preview or tencent-reported gains over the preview of 19.1% on gamedev and 9.8% on gamelogic. Pick LongCat-2.0 for near-frontier agentic coding — topped openrouter anonymously as 'owl alpha' for two months or massive native 1m context at near-linear cost via sparse attention. Choose LongCat-2.0 if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Hunyuan Hy4 if you want a managed API.
Hunyuan Hy4 (Tencent) and LongCat-2.0 (Meituan) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Hunyuan Hy4 is tencent's November 4, 2026 full Hy4 release - a 1M-context model that adds vision and computer use at about $0.90/$2.70, with weights promised but not yet public. LongCat-2.0 is a trillion-parameter, MIT-licensed open MoE delivering near-frontier agentic coding at 1M context — trained entirely on Chinese chips. 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
- ▸Cost model: LongCat-2.0 ships open weights you can self-host (hardware cost only, no per-token fee), while Hunyuan Hy4 is API-metered at $0.9/$2.7 per 1M tokens. Your choice depends on whether you want zero marginal cost at the price of running infrastructure.
- ▸Context window: 1M tokens vs 1M — within a few percent of each other, so treat this as a tie and test on your own long inputs, since usable recall varies by model.
- ▸Recency: Hunyuan Hy4 is the newer model by about 4 months (released November 4, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Hunyuan Hy4 | LongCat-2.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Tencent (China) | Meituan (China) |
| Released | November 4, 2026 | July 5, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M tokens (~1,573 pages) | 1M (~1,500 pages) |
| Price (in/out) | $0.9/$2.7 per 1M tokens | Open weight (self-host / free) |
| Open weight? | No — API only | Yes — self-hostable |
| Modalities | text, image, code | text, code |
| SWE-Bench Verified | Not published | Not published |
| MRCR v2 @ 1M | Not published | Not published |
Who wins what
First Hunyuan model with vision and computer use, adding image input to the text-only Hy4 Preview
Hunyuan Hy4
LongCat-2.0 is comparatively weak here — a 1.6T model is extremely expensive to self-host, so most use leans on the China-hosted API
Tencent-reported gains over the preview of 19.1% on GameDev and 9.8% on GameLogic
Hunyuan Hy4
LongCat-2.0 is comparatively weak here — headline scores are vendor-reported on SWE-Bench Pro, not the Verified set
Tencent-reported financial evaluation of 3.04, ahead of DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 at 2.97
Hunyuan Hy4
Tencent's November 4, 2026 full Hy4 release - a 1M-context model that adds vision and computer use at about $0.90/$2.70, with weights promised but not yet public — and it is the newer of the two.
Near-frontier agentic coding — topped OpenRouter anonymously as 'Owl Alpha' for two months
LongCat-2.0
Open weights make this possible at all — Hunyuan Hy4 is API-only, so it cannot leave the vendor's servers.
Massive native 1M context at near-linear cost via sparse attention
LongCat-2.0
A trillion-parameter, MIT-licensed open MoE delivering near-frontier agentic coding at 1M context — trained entirely on Chinese chips — and its weights are open while Hunyuan Hy4 is API-only.
Fully MIT-licensed 1.6T-parameter mixture-of-experts (about 48B active)
LongCat-2.0
Hunyuan Hy4 is comparatively weak here — sources differ on list price: Tencent says about $0.90/$2.70, while OpenRouter and Vals show $0.83/$2.50
Lowest cost at scale
LongCat-2.0
Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of Hunyuan Hy4's $0.9/$2.7 per 1M tokens.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ LongCat-2.0
At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts Hunyuan Hy4, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Hunyuan Hy4
Larger 1M tokens window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs
→ LongCat-2.0
Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Hunyuan Hy4 is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is first hunyuan model with vision and computer use, adding image input to the text-only hy4 preview
→ Hunyuan Hy4
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is near-frontier agentic coding — topped openrouter anonymously as 'owl alpha' for two months
→ LongCat-2.0
That is its strongest area.
Hunyuan Hy4: where it fits
Tencent's November 4, 2026 full Hy4 release - a 1M-context model that adds vision and computer use at about $0.90/$2.70, with weights promised but not yet public. Released November 4, 2026 by Tencent, it is built for first Hunyuan model with vision and computer use, adding image input to the text-only Hy4 Preview, tencent-reported gains over the preview of 19.1% on GameDev and 9.8% on GameLogic, tencent-reported financial evaluation of 3.04, ahead of DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 at 2.97, and about $0.90/$2.70 per million tokens, with 50% off on Tencent Cloud TokenHub through December 31, 2026 (OpenRouter lists $0.417/$1.25 with that discount).
Its trade-offs are real: weights not public as of November 5, 2026 - Tencent says weights and system cards will come in the coming days, and no license is announced yet, only the earlier Hy4 Preview is downloadable today (Apache 2.0), published improvements are Tencent's own and mostly relative to the preview, with no SWE-bench Verified figure, and sources differ on list price: Tencent says about $0.90/$2.70, while OpenRouter and Vals show $0.83/$2.50. At $0.9 in / $2.7 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
LongCat-2.0: where it fits
A trillion-parameter, MIT-licensed open MoE delivering near-frontier agentic coding at 1M context — trained entirely on Chinese chips. Released July 5, 2026 by Meituan, it is built for near-frontier agentic coding — topped OpenRouter anonymously as 'Owl Alpha' for two months, massive native 1M context at near-linear cost via sparse attention, fully MIT-licensed 1.6T-parameter mixture-of-experts (about 48B active), and trained end to end on domestic Chinese chips, independent of Nvidia hardware.
Its trade-offs: a 1.6T model is extremely expensive to self-host, so most use leans on the China-hosted API, and headline scores are vendor-reported on SWE-Bench Pro, not the Verified set. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. LongCat-2.0 gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Hunyuan Hy4 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 Hunyuan Hy4 and LongCat-2.0 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 pricingFrequently asked questions
Is Hunyuan Hy4 or LongCat-2.0 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, Hunyuan Hy4 leans toward first hunyuan model with vision and computer use, adding image input to the text-only hy4 preview while LongCat-2.0 leans toward near-frontier agentic coding — topped openrouter anonymously as 'owl alpha' for two months, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Hunyuan Hy4 or LongCat-2.0?
LongCat-2.0 is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Hunyuan Hy4 is API-metered at $0.9/$2.7 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?
Effectively neither — 1M tokens vs 1M is a difference of a few percent. Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.
Can I use both Hunyuan Hy4 and LongCat-2.0 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Hunyuan Hy4, LongCat-2.0 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, Hunyuan Hy4 or LongCat-2.0?
Hunyuan Hy4 — released November 4, 2026, about 4 months after LongCat-2.0.
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.