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Jamba 1.5 Mini vs Yi-Lightning

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

Updated

Jamba 1.5 Mini specs · Yi-Lightning specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceYi-Lightning

    Yi-Lightning is roughly 2.9× cheaper on output tokens ($0.14 vs $0.40 per 1M).

  • Context windowJamba 1.5 Mini

    Jamba 1.5 Mini accepts 256K tokens vs 16K, 16.0× 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.

  • ModalitiesTie

    Both handle text.

  • OpennessJamba 1.5 Mini

    Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License); Yi-Lightning is API-only.

On balance Jamba 1.5 Mini edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Yi-Lightning's 1. Yi-Lightning is roughly 2.9× cheaper on output tokens ($0.14 vs $0.40 per 1M). Jamba 1.5 Mini accepts 256K tokens vs 16K, 16.0× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License); Yi-Lightning is API-only.

Yi-Lightning is the newer of the two, released 2 months after Jamba 1.5 Mini, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Jamba 1.5 Mini is usually picked for long context and summarization workloads, while Yi-Lightning sees more deployments in chinese llm and cheapest llm. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecJamba 1.5 MiniYi-Lightning
ProviderAI21Other
ReleasedAug 2024Oct 2024
Modalitiestexttext
Context window256K tokens16K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$0.20 / 1M tokens$0.14 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$0.40 / 1M tokens$0.14 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff,,
Open weightsYes (Jamba Open Model License)No
API availableYesYes

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$1.20 vs $0.630
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$12.00 vs $6.30
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$32.40 vs $21.84

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $1.20 vs $0.630 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $12.00 vs $6.30 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $32.40 vs $21.84 per month, model B comes out ahead.

Price calculator

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

  • Jamba 1.5 Mini$0.040
  • Yi-Lightning$0.021

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 Jamba 1.5 Mini if

Jamba 1.5 Mini fits when…

  • 256k context at small-model price
  • Hybrid SSM-Transformer is efficient on long inputs
  • Open weights for self-hosting
  • Long-context tasks, handles 256K tokens vs 16K for Yi-Lightning.
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Jamba Open Model License).
Pick Yi-Lightning if

Yi-Lightning fits when…

  • Cheap
  • Strong Chinese
  • Fast
  • Cost-sensitive workloads, 2.9× cheaper than Jamba 1.5 Mini on output tokens.
Don't want either?

Consider Jamba 1.5 Large

AI21's hybrid SSM-Transformer with a 256k context window, strong on long-doc tasks.

See Jamba 1.5 Large specsJamba 1.5 Mini vs Jamba 1.5 LargeYi-Lightning vs Jamba 1.5 Large

Frequently asked

  • Is Jamba 1.5 Mini or Yi-Lightning cheaper?
    Yi-Lightning is cheaper at $0.14 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $0.40 / 1M tokens for Jamba 1.5 Mini.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Jamba 1.5 Mini accepts 256K tokens vs 16K for Yi-Lightning.
  • Is Jamba 1.5 Mini or Yi-Lightning better for coding?
    Both Jamba 1.5 Mini and Yi-Lightning 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?
    Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License). Yi-Lightning is API-only.
  • When were Jamba 1.5 Mini and Yi-Lightning released?
    Jamba 1.5 Mini was released by AI21 on 2024-08-22. Yi-Lightning was released by Other on 2024-10-16.
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