Solar Pro vs SD 3.5 Medium

Compare Solar Pro and SD 3.5 Medium: pricing, performance, context window, latency, and best use cases. Side-by-side comparison on XALEN.

Updated 2026-05-21 · By Abhishek Raj · Our methodology

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Feature Solar Pro SD 3.5 Medium
CategoryOpen SourceImage
Parameters22B2.5B
Context Window32KN/A
Input Price$0.02/1M tokens$0.003/image/1M tokens
Output Price$0.04/1M tokensN/A/1M tokens
Latency~180ms~2s

Choose Solar Pro when:

  • ✓ General purpose
  • ✓ Korean content
  • ✓ Chatbots
Key Strengths:

Good instruction following, Compact, Efficient

Choose SD 3.5 Medium when:

  • ✓ General imagery
  • ✓ Batch generation
  • ✓ Prototyping
Key Strengths:

Good quality, Fast, Open weights

Verdict: Solar Pro vs SD 3.5 Medium

For cost efficiency, SD 3.5 Medium wins at $0.003/image/1M input tokens. For speed, Solar Pro is faster at ~180ms. Solar Pro excels at General purpose while SD 3.5 Medium is better for General imagery. Both are available on XALEN through a single API — try them in the Playground to see which fits your workload.

Detailed Analysis

Pricing Comparison

Solar Pro costs $0.02/1M input tokens and $0.04/1M output tokens. SD 3.5 Medium costs $0.003/image input and N/A output. SD 3.5 Medium is 6.7x cheaper on input tokens. XALEN offers batch processing at 50% discount on both models.

Performance & Context

Solar Pro has a 32K context window with ~180ms latency. SD 3.5 Medium offers N/A context at ~2s. Solar Pro has the larger context window.

Best For

Solar Pro (Open Source) is optimized for: General purpose, Korean content, Chatbots. SD 3.5 Medium (Image) works best for: General imagery, Batch generation, Prototyping.

Try Both on XALEN

Both models are available through XALEN's OpenAI-compatible API. Switch between them by changing the model parameter:

from xalen import XALEN

client = XALEN(api_key="xln_test_YOUR_KEY")

# Use Solar Pro
response_a = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="solar-pro",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your question here"}]
)

# Use SD 3.5 Medium
response_b = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="stable-diffusion-3-5-medium",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your question here"}]
)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Solar Pro or SD 3.5 Medium?

Solar Pro (Open Source, 22B) offers Good instruction following. SD 3.5 Medium (Image, 2.5B) offers Good quality. Choose Solar Pro for General purpose or SD 3.5 Medium for General imagery.

How much does Solar Pro cost vs SD 3.5 Medium?

Solar Pro: $0.02/1M input, $0.04/1M output. SD 3.5 Medium: $0.003/image/1M input, N/A/1M output. Both available on XALEN with batch processing at 50% discount.

Can I use both models on XALEN?

Yes. XALEN provides 200+ models through a single OpenAI-compatible API. Switch between Solar Pro and SD 3.5 Medium by changing the model parameter. No code changes needed.

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Last updated: 2026-05-21. Pricing and specifications may change. Check pricing page for latest rates.