Apertus Models by Swiss AI Initiative
Last refreshed 2026-10-05. Next refresh: weekly.
Details
Capabilities
About
Apertus is the Swiss AI Initiative's fully open model family (ETH Zurich, EPFL, CSCS). Weights, training data, code and alignment principles (the Apertus Charter) are all public under Apache 2.0. Apertus 1.0 (Sept 2025) introduced dense 8B and 70B models pretrained on 1,000+ languages using only openly licensed data, with opt-outs honoured. Apertus 1.1 (May 2026) distilled 0.5B, 1.5B and 4B models. Apertus 1.5 (July 2026) added image and experimental audio input, a thinking mode, tool use and a 262K context. Apertus 2.0 is planned for Q1 2027.
Decision facts
- Best fit
- vision and multimodal workreasoningJSON / Tool use
- Capability starting point
- Apertus 1.5 70B with 262k context and reasoning, JSON / Tool use, and multimodal inputs
- Lowest tracked input
- Apertus 1.5 70B · $0.875/1M · Featherless
- Closest related family
- 360Zhinao
Current Variants
Use-when guidance is based on each model's tracked capabilities, context window, release date, and replacement status.
Use when the workload needs 262k context, 70B parameters, and reasoning.
Use when the workload needs 262k context, 8B parameters, and reasoning.
| Model | Use when | Released | Signals | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apertus 1.5 70B | Use when the workload needs 262k context, 70B parameters, and reasoning. | 2026-07 | 262k context70B parametersreasoning | Current |
| Apertus 1.5 8B | Use when the workload needs 262k context, 8B parameters, and reasoning. | 2026-07 | 262k context8B parametersreasoning | Current |
Release Timeline
1 release groupSpecifications(2 models)
| Model | Released | Context | Parameters | Vision | Multimodal | Reasoning | JSON / Tool use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apertus 1.5 70B | 2026-07 | 262k | 70B | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Apertus 1.5 8B | 2026-07 | 262k | 8B | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Available From(1 provider)
Pricing
| Model | Provider | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apertus 1.5 70B | Featherless | $0.875 | $2.075 | Serverless |