Hunyuan Hy4 vs North Mini Code
Tencent · China | Cohere · Canada · 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 North Mini Code for agentic software engineering, code generation, and terminal tasks or efficient sparse moe — 3b active of 30b, runs on a single h100. Choose North Mini Code if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Hunyuan Hy4 if you want a managed API.
Hunyuan Hy4 (Tencent, China) and North Mini Code (Cohere, Canada) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. 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. North Mini Code is cohere's first agentic coding model: an open-weight 30B/3B-active MoE built for real software-engineering and terminal tasks that runs on a single H100. 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: North Mini Code 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: Hunyuan Hy4 holds 4.1× more — 1M tokens (~1,573 pages) vs 256K (~384 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
- ▸Recency: Hunyuan Hy4 is the newer model by about 5 months (released November 4, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
- ▸Ecosystem: this is a China-vs-Canada matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Hunyuan Hy4 | North Mini Code |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Tencent (China) | Cohere (Canada) |
| Released | November 4, 2026 | June 9, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M tokens (~1,573 pages) | 256K (~384 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 | 67.6% |
| 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
North Mini Code is comparatively weak here — 256K context and modest general-intelligence index trail frontier models
Tencent-reported gains over the preview of 19.1% on GameDev and 9.8% on GameLogic
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 carries the larger 1M tokens context.
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.
Agentic software engineering, code generation, and terminal tasks
North Mini Code
Cohere's first agentic coding model: an open-weight 30B/3B-active MoE built for real software-engineering and terminal tasks that runs on a single H100 — and its weights are open while Hunyuan Hy4 is API-only.
Efficient sparse MoE — 3B active of 30B, runs on a single H100
North Mini Code
North Mini Code lists efficient sparse MoE — 3B active of 30B, runs on a single H100 among its strengths; Hunyuan Hy4 does not.
High throughput (up to 2.8x Devstral Small 2) at low latency
North Mini Code
North Mini Code lists high throughput (up to 2.8x Devstral Small 2) at low latency among its strengths; Hunyuan Hy4 does not.
Lowest cost at scale
North Mini Code
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.
Largest single-prompt input
Hunyuan Hy4
Its 1M tokens window is about 4.1× larger than North Mini Code's 256K, fitting roughly 1,573 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ North Mini Code
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
→ North Mini Code
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 agentic software engineering, code generation, and terminal tasks
→ North Mini Code
That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules
→ North Mini Code or Hunyuan Hy4
Origin (China vs Canada) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
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.
North Mini Code: where it fits
Cohere's first agentic coding model: an open-weight 30B/3B-active MoE built for real software-engineering and terminal tasks that runs on a single H100. Released June 9, 2026 by Cohere, it is built for agentic software engineering, code generation, and terminal tasks, efficient sparse MoE — 3B active of 30B, runs on a single H100, high throughput (up to 2.8x Devstral Small 2) at low latency, and fully open weights under Apache 2.0 with fp8 and 4-bit builds.
Its trade-offs: text-only and coding-specialized — not multimodal or general-purpose, and 256K context and modest general-intelligence index trail frontier models. 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. North Mini Code 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 North Mini Code 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 North Mini Code better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for Hunyuan Hy4, 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 North Mini Code leans toward agentic software engineering, code generation, and terminal tasks, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Hunyuan Hy4 or North Mini Code?
North Mini Code 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?
Hunyuan Hy4 — 1M tokens vs 256K, about 4.1× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Hunyuan Hy4 and North Mini Code together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Hunyuan Hy4, North Mini Code 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 North Mini Code?
Hunyuan Hy4 — released November 4, 2026, about 5 months after North Mini Code.
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.