What is ERNIE 5 used for?

ERNIE 5 is used for vision and multimodal work, reasoning, and agent workflows and tool use. The family description and listed model capabilities point to those workloads as the best fit.

How does ERNIE 5 compare to ERNIE 4.5?

ERNIE 5 by Baidu AI is strongest where you need vision and multimodal work, while ERNIE 4.5 by Baidu AI is the closest related family to check for vision and multimodal work. ERNIE 5 has 2 listed variants and reaches up to 128k context, while ERNIE 4.5 reaches up to 128k context, so compare the specs and pricing tables before choosing a production model.

Which ERNIE 5 model should I use?

For the lowest listed input price, start with ERNIE 5.1 through Baidu Qianfan at $0.59/1M input tokens. For the most capable/latest local choice, evaluate ERNIE 5.0 with 128k context and reasoning, tool use, function calling, and multimodal inputs.

ERNIE 5 Models by Baidu AI

Baidu AIProprietary

2 models2026Up to 128k ctxFrom $0.59/1M input

Details

ResearcherBaidu AI

LicenseProprietary

Commercial useCommercial use: conditional

Models2

Released2026

Max context128k

Capabilities

Vision1 of 2 models

Multimodal1 of 2 models

Reasoning1 of 2 models

Function CallingAll models

Tool UseAll models

Links

Website

About

ERNIE 5 is Baidu's fifth-generation ERNIE model family. ERNIE 5.0 (announced Feb 2026) is a 2.4T-parameter fully multimodal model. ERNIE 5.1 (released May 9, 2026) is a lighter model at approximately 800B total parameters, achieving comparable frontier performance at 6% of the pre-training compute cost.

Current Variants

Use-when guidance is based on each model's tracked capabilities, context window, release date, and replacement status.

2 in view

ERNIE 5.1Current

Use when the workload needs 128k context, tool use, and function calling.

2026-05128k contexttool usefunction calling

ERNIE 5.0Current

Use when the workload needs 128k context, reasoning, and tool use.

2026-01128k contextreasoningtool use

Current ERNIE 5 variants with use-when guidance and lifecycle status
Model	Use when	Released	Signals	Status
ERNIE 5.1	Use when the workload needs 128k context, tool use, and function calling.	2026-05	128k contexttool usefunction calling	Current
ERNIE 5.0	Use when the workload needs 128k context, reasoning, and tool use.	2026-01	128k contextreasoningtool use	Current

Release Timeline

2 release groups

2026-05

1 current

ERNIE 5.1

128k contexttool usefunction calling

Current

2026-01

1 current

ERNIE 5.0

128k contextreasoningtool use

Current

Specifications(2 models)

ERNIE 5 model specifications comparison
Model	Released	Context	Parameters	Vision	Multimodal	Reasoning	Fn Calling	Tool Use
ERNIE 5.1	2026-05	128k	—	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
ERNIE 5.0	2026-01	128k	2.4T	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Available From(1 provider)

Baidu Qianfan

Pricing

ERNIE 5 model pricing by provider
Model	Provider	Input / 1M	Output / 1M	Type
ERNIE 5.1	Baidu Qianfan	$0.59	$2.65	Serverless
ERNIE 5.0	Baidu Qianfan	$0.89	$3.54	Serverless

Frequently Asked Questions

What is ERNIE 5 used for?: ERNIE 5 is used for vision and multimodal work, reasoning, and agent workflows and tool use. The family description and listed model capabilities point to those workloads as the best fit.
How does ERNIE 5 compare to ERNIE 4.5?: ERNIE 5 by Baidu AI is strongest where you need vision and multimodal work, while ERNIE 4.5 by Baidu AI is the closest related family to check for vision and multimodal work. ERNIE 5 has 2 listed variants and reaches up to 128k context, while ERNIE 4.5 reaches up to 128k context, so compare the specs and pricing tables before choosing a production model.
Which ERNIE 5 model should I use?: For the lowest listed input price, start with ERNIE 5.1 through Baidu Qianfan at $0.59/1M input tokens. For the most capable/latest local choice, evaluate ERNIE 5.0 with 128k context and reasoning, tool use, function calling, and multimodal inputs.

Models(2)