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Claude 3.5 Haiku vs SmolLM2 1.7B

A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.

Updated

Claude 3.5 Haiku specs · SmolLM2 1.7B specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceClaude 3.5 Haiku

    Claude 3.5 Haiku publishes pricing ($4.00 / 1M output tokens) while SmolLM2 1.7B does not.

  • Context windowClaude 3.5 Haiku

    Claude 3.5 Haiku accepts 200K tokens vs 8.2K, 24.4× the room for long documents and codebases.

  • BenchmarksTie

    No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.

  • ModalitiesClaude 3.5 Haiku

    Claude 3.5 Haiku supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for SmolLM2 1.7B.

  • OpennessSmolLM2 1.7B

    SmolLM2 1.7B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); Claude 3.5 Haiku is API-only.

On balance Claude 3.5 Haiku edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against SmolLM2 1.7B's 1. Claude 3.5 Haiku publishes pricing ($4.00 / 1M output tokens) while SmolLM2 1.7B does not. Claude 3.5 Haiku accepts 200K tokens vs 8.2K, 24.4× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Claude 3.5 Haiku handles text, vision while SmolLM2 1.7B handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. SmolLM2 1.7B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); Claude 3.5 Haiku is API-only.

Both shipped within roughly a month of each other in 2024, so they share the same generation of training data and tooling. Claude 3.5 Haiku is usually picked for customer support and code completion workloads, while SmolLM2 1.7B sees more deployments in on device and edge deployment. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecClaude 3.5 HaikuSmolLM2 1.7B
ProviderAnthropicOther
ReleasedNov 2024Nov 2024
Modalitiestext, visiontext
Context window200K tokens8.2K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$0.80 / 1M tokensPricing not published
Output · 1M$4.00 / 1M tokensPricing not published
Knowledge cutoff,,
Open weightsNoYes (Apache-2.0)
API availableYesNo

Pricing at scale

What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$8.40 vs ,
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$84.00 vs ,
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$144 vs ,

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Claude 3.5 Haiku$0.280
  • SmolLM2 1.7BPricing unavailable

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

Benchmark scores not yet available. We only publish numbers we can source from official model cards or independent leaderboards, see methodology.
Pick Claude 3.5 Haiku if

Claude 3.5 Haiku fits when…

  • Fast
  • Cheap for Anthropic
  • Strong code at small size
  • Long-context tasks, handles 200K tokens vs 8.2K for SmolLM2 1.7B.
  • Multimodal needs covering vision.
Pick SmolLM2 1.7B if

SmolLM2 1.7B fits when…

  • Truly tiny
  • Apache-2.0
  • Runs on phones
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Apache-2.0).
Don't want either?

Consider Claude Opus 4.7

Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.

See Claude Opus 4.7 specsClaude 3.5 Haiku vs Claude Opus 4.7SmolLM2 1.7B vs Claude Opus 4.7

Frequently asked

  • Is Claude 3.5 Haiku or SmolLM2 1.7B cheaper?
    Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Claude 3.5 Haiku accepts 200K tokens vs 8.2K for SmolLM2 1.7B.
  • Is Claude 3.5 Haiku or SmolLM2 1.7B better for coding?
    Both Claude 3.5 Haiku and SmolLM2 1.7B are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.
  • Are either of these models open source?
    SmolLM2 1.7B ships open weights (Apache-2.0). Claude 3.5 Haiku is API-only.
  • When were Claude 3.5 Haiku and SmolLM2 1.7B released?
    Claude 3.5 Haiku was released by Anthropic on 2024-11-04. SmolLM2 1.7B was released by Other on 2024-11-01.
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