Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B review: specs, pricing, and where it fits
Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B ranks #17 on the AI Hippo board with a 1.0M context window and $0.25 input / $1.00 output per 1M tokens. Specs, cost math, and how it compares.
The quick read
Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B from reflection is a balanced pick (#17): a 1.0M window at $0.25 input / $1.00 output per 1M tokens. It aims for capability headroom without top-tier prices—useful when neither raw cost nor absolute frontier quality is the only constraint.
Spec sheet at a glance
By the numbers: 1.0M context window; text-in / text-out; 20 exposed API parameters, including tool calling and structured outputs with reasoning support. Use these to judge fit for agentic, long-context, or structured-output workloads.
Pricing & how it compares
Pricing: $0.25 input / $1.00 output per 1M tokens. Its blended $0.63 is above the top-20 median ($0.33). On AI Hippo the composite board rewards cheap long-context models such as Meta: Llama 4 Scout, so a lower rank here means weaker value-per-token, not weaker capability.
Head-to-head
Its closest board neighbor is Mistral: Mistral Large 4 (1.0M ctx, $1.40/1M blended). Side by side, Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B offers 1.0M ctx at $0.63/1M blended: context is similar and, on blended token price, it is cheaper. Pick between them on whichever axis your workload is bound by.
Where it fits
Best-fit workloads: whole-repo & long-document work, tool-calling agents, structured-output pipelines, multi-step reasoning, high-volume, cost-sensitive batch.
Cost in practice & verdict
A representative 100K-input + 20K-output task costs about $0.04 on Reflection: Beam 1.0 501B A23B. Verdict: strong price-performance for a default, high-volume workhorse where every token counts.