Writer · language model
Palmyra X5: pricing, context and benchmarks
Palmyra X5 is a language model from Writer released on January 21, 2026. It costs $0.6 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens, with a 1M-token context window. No independent score has been published for it so far.
| Price | 9/30 | |
|---|---|---|
| Context | 12/15 | |
| Features | 0/15 |
What you need to know about Palmyra X5
Palmyra X5 was released by Writer (United States) on January 21, 2026. It accepts text as input and produces text. Its context window reaches 1,040,000 tokens, larger than 78 % of the models in the registry, and it can write up to 8,192 tokens in one go.
It has been available for about 9 months, long enough for its prices and scores to have settled.
Palmyra X5 pricing
On OpenRouter, Palmyra X5 costs $0.6 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens. Counting three tokens read for every token written, its average price is $1.95 per million, more expensive than 71 % of paid models (2.6 times the median of $0.76).
A concrete example: a task that sends 2,000 tokens (about 1,500 words) and receives a 500-token answer costs $0.0042. At 1,000 tasks a day, budget $126 a month. The price calculator redoes this with your own volumes.
Performance and benchmarks
Epoch AI does not yet publish a capabilities index for Palmyra X5. We therefore show no made-up performance rating: only price, context and features count towards its score.
Features, privacy and local use
- It does not support tool calling: it is not suited to driving an AI agent that has to act.
Its weights are not published: it can only be used through the Writer API or a broker such as OpenRouter, which means sending your data off your machines.
Verdict
Palmyra X5 scores 35/100 on our grid, which only uses published figures.
Strengths
- Very large context (1M tokens): long documents or a whole codebase fit in one request.
Limitations
- No tool calling: unusable as an agent's brain.
- No independent score published: performance cannot be verified.
- Text only: reads neither images nor files.
Avoid if…
- you process large volumes on a tight budget;
- your data must not leave your servers;
- you are building an agent that must call tools.
Alternatives
- Qwen3.7 Max$2.21
- Grok 4.3$1.56
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902)$3
- Fugu Max$3
- Inkling$1.76
- Muse Spark 1.3$2
Comparisons and tools
Learn more
Frequently asked questions
How much does Palmyra X5 cost?
$0.6 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens on OpenRouter (checked October 25, 2026). A task with 2,000 tokens read and 500 written costs $0.0042.
How big is Palmyra X5's context window?
1,040,000 tokens, roughly 780,000 words, with a maximum of 8,192 output tokens.
Can Palmyra X5 run locally?
No, Writer does not publish its weights: it is API-only.
Is Palmyra X5 suitable for an AI agent?
No: without tool calling it cannot act, only answer.
What are the alternatives to Palmyra X5?
The closest models on price and performance are Qwen3.7 Max, Grok 4.3, and Qwen3.8 Max (0902).
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Neutrality. No affiliate links. No vendor pays to be reviewed, rated or ranked. Reviews are directed by François Chollet, neutral and factual, and every data point is dated and sourced. How we score