AI Models Leaderboard, August 2026
Large language models ranked by LMSys Arena Elo, MMLU, HumanEval, MATH, pricing, and inference speed. Refreshed monthly with live data from official provider pricing pages, Artificial Analysis, and the Arena.
In short:As of August 2026, Claude Mythos 5 tops the AI models leaderboard at 1531 Arena Elo, across 377+ models compared on quality, cost, and speed. Per-task leaders differ: check the column for your use case (text, coding, reasoning, or value).
Which AI model should you use in August 2026?
The leaderboard below ranks 377 frontier and frontier-adjacent models on a single normalized quality index, but the practical answer is task-dependent: pick the leading code/agentic model for coding, the leading long-context model for science and retrieval, the leading chat model for general use, and the open-weights leader when budget matters. Multi-model routing is now the default architectural choice for serious production deployments.
| # | Model | Quality | Arena ELO | Speed | Price | Context | Value | Released |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthropic · Frontier agentic coding & knowledge work | 100 | 1525 | 58 t/s | $10 / $50 | 1M | 3.3 | Jun 2026 |
| 2 | Anthropic · Ceiling capability (limited access) | 100 | 1531 | 56 t/s | $10 / $50 | 1M | 3.3 | Jun 2026 |
| 3 | Claude Opus 5 New Anthropic · Frontier agentic coding & reasoning | 99 | 1522 | 74 t/s | $5 / $25 | 1M | 6.6 | Jul 2026 |
| 4 | Anthropic · Coding, agents & computer use | 98 | 1512 | 72 t/s | $5 / $25 | 1M | 6.5 | May 2026 |
| 5 | OpenAI · General frontier reasoning & tools | 98 | 1514 | 96 t/s | $5 / $30 | 1M | 5.6 | Jul 2026 |
| 6 | OpenAI · Frontier general purpose | 97 | 1506 | 70 t/s | $5 / $30 | 1M | 5.5 | Apr 2026 |
| 7 | OpenAI · Complex analysis | 97 | — | — | $30 / $180 | 1M | 0.9 | Mar 2026 |
| 8 | OpenAI · Complex analysis | 97 | — | — | $21 / $168 | 400K | 1.0 | Dec 2025 |
| 9 | Anthropic · Complex analysis | 97 | — | — | $30 / $150 | 1M | 1.1 | May 2026 |
| 10 | Moonshot AI · Open-weight coding frontier | 97 | 1500 | 55 t/s | $3 / $15 | 1M | 10.8 | Jul 2026 |
| 11 | OpenAI · Reasoning at any cost | 96 | 1510 | 68 t/s | $30 / $180 | 1M | 0.9 | Apr 2026 |
| 12 | Anthropic · Coding & agentic workflows | 96 | 1505 | 68 t/s | $5 / $25 | 1M | 6.4 | Apr 2026 |
| 13 | OpenAI · Deep research | 96 | — | — | $10 / $40 | 200K | 3.8 | Oct 2025 |
| 14 | OpenAI · Deep research | 96 | — | — | $2 / $8 | 200K | 19.2 | Oct 2025 |
| 15 | OpenAI · Hard reasoning | 96 | — | — | $20 / $80 | 200K | 1.9 | Jun 2025 |
| 16 | Google · Speed & cost | 96 | 1505 | — | $2 / $12 | 1M | 13.7 | Feb 2026 |
| 17 | Google · Science & long-context | 96 | 1505 | 131 t/s | $2 / $12 | 1M | 13.7 | Apr 2026 |
| 18 | Anthropic · General purpose | 95 | 1490 | — | $5 / $25 | 1M | 6.3 | Feb 2026 |
| 19 | Anthropic · General purpose | 95 | — | — | $5 / $25 | 200K | 6.3 | Nov 2025 |
| 20 | Anthropic · Complex analysis | 95 | — | — | $30 / $150 | 1M | 1.1 | Apr 2026 |
| 21 | Alibaba Cloud · Multimodal APAC frontier (unverified) | 95 | 1496 | 86 t/s | $2.5 / $7.5 | 1M | 19.0 | Jul 2026 |
| 22 | Google · Image generation | 94 | — | — | $2 / $12 | 66K | 13.4 | Nov 2025 |
| 23 | Anthropic · Multimodal | 94 | — | — | $15 / $75 | 200K | 2.1 | Aug 2025 |
| 24 | OpenAI · Hard reasoning | 94 | 1370 | 68 t/s | $10 / $40 | 200K | 3.8 | Apr 2025 |
| 25 | Alibaba Cloud · Long autonomous agentic runs | 94 | 1488 | 90 t/s | $2.5 / $7.5 | 1M | 18.8 | May 2026 |
| 26 | Alibaba Cloud · Long autonomous agentic runs | 94 | 1488 | 90 t/s | $2.5 / $7.5 | 1M | 18.8 | May 2026 |
| 27 | xAI · Cheap output tokens & real-time info | 94 | 1499 | 88 t/s | $2 / $6 | 500K | 23.5 | Jul 2026 |
| 28 | xAI · Agentic tasks & real-time info | 93 | 1496 | 83 t/s | $1.25 / $2.5 | 1M | 49.6 | May 2026 |
| 29 | OpenAI · General purpose | 93 | 1495 | — | $2.5 / $15 | 1M | 10.6 | Mar 2026 |
| 30 | OpenAI · General purpose | 93 | — | — | $1.75 / $14 | 128K | 11.8 | Mar 2026 |
| 31 | OpenAI · Code generation | 93 | — | — | $1.75 / $14 | 400K | 11.8 | Feb 2026 |
| 32 | OpenAI · Code generation | 93 | — | — | $1.75 / $14 | 400K | 11.8 | Jan 2026 |
| 33 | OpenAI · General purpose | 93 | — | — | $1.75 / $14 | 128K | 11.8 | Dec 2025 |
| 34 | OpenAI · General purpose | 93 | — | — | $1.75 / $14 | 400K | 11.8 | Dec 2025 |
| 35 | OpenAI · Code generation | 93 | — | — | $1.25 / $10 | 400K | 16.5 | Dec 2025 |
| 36 | OpenAI · General purpose | 93 | — | — | $1.25 / $10 | 400K | 16.5 | Nov 2025 |
| 37 | OpenAI · General purpose | 93 | — | — | $1.25 / $10 | 128K | 16.5 | Nov 2025 |
| 38 | OpenAI · Code generation | 93 | — | — | $1.25 / $10 | 400K | 16.5 | Nov 2025 |
| 39 | OpenAI · Hard reasoning | 93 | — | — | $150 / $600 | 200K | 0.2 | Mar 2025 |
| 40 | OpenAI · Complex analysis | 93 | — | — | $30 / $60 | 8K | 2.1 | May 2023 |
| 41 | OpenAI · Multimodal | 93 | — | — | $30 / $60 | 8K | 2.1 | May 2023 |
| 42 | xAI · General purpose | 93 | 1496 | — | $1.25 / $2.5 | 2M | 49.6 | Mar 2026 |
| 43 | OpenAI · Complex analysis | 93 | — | — | $8 / $15 | 272K | 8.1 | Apr 2026 |
| 44 | Anthropic · Balanced agents & coding value | 93 | 1479 | 98 t/s | $3 / $15 | 1M | 10.3 | Jun 2026 |
| 45 | OpenAI · Default production tier | 93 | 1489 | 118 t/s | $2 / $12 | 1M | 13.3 | Jul 2026 |
| 46 | Moonshot AI · Frontier quality at low cost | 92 | 1466 | 48 t/s | $0.73 / $3.49 | 256K | 43.6 | Apr 2026 |
| 47 | Google · Multimodal + value | 92 | 1345 | 87 t/s | $1.25 / $10 | 1M | 16.4 | Mar 2025 |
| 48 | Anthropic · Complex analysis | 91 | 1360 | 52 t/s | $15 / $75 | 200K | 2.0 | May 2025 |
| 49 | · Hard reasoning | 91 | — | — | $0.3 / $1.1 | 164K | 130.0 | Jul 2025 |
| 50 | Google · Speed & cost | 91 | — | — | $1.25 / $10 | 1M | 16.2 | Jun 2025 |
| 51 | DeepSeek · Hard reasoning | 91 | — | — | $0.5 / $2.15 | 164K | 68.7 | May 2025 |
| 52 | Google · Speed & cost | 91 | — | — | $1.25 / $10 | 1M | 16.2 | May 2025 |
| 53 | DeepSeek · Hard reasoning | 91 | — | — | $0.29 / $0.29 | 33K | 313.8 | Jan 2025 |
| 54 | DeepSeek · Hard reasoning | 91 | — | — | $0.7 / $0.8 | 131K | 121.3 | Jan 2025 |
| 55 | DeepSeek: R1OSS DeepSeek · Cheap reasoning | 91 | 1350 | 35 t/s | $0.55 / $2.19 | 128K | 66.4 | Jan 2025 |
| 56 | Moonshot AI · Open-weight agentic coding | 91 | — | 55 t/s | $0.73 / $3.49 | 256K | 43.1 | Jun 2026 |
| 57 | · Open-weight reasoning & tool use | 91 | — | 50 t/s | $0.2 / $0.8 | 262K | 182.0 | Jun 2026 |
| 58 | GLM-5.2OSS Z.ai (Zhipu AI) · Fastest self-hostable frontier model | 91 | 1483 | 168 t/s | $1.4 / $4.4 | 1M | 31.4 | Jun 2026 |
| 59 | DeepSeek · Cheapest frontier-class tokens | 90 | 1467 | 62 t/s | $0.435 / $0.87 | 1M | 137.9 | Apr 2026 |
| 60 | Anthropic · Coding & balance | 90 | 1467 | 73 t/s | $3 / $15 | 1M | 10.0 | Feb 2026 |
| 61 | OpenAI · General purpose | 90 | 1455 | — | $1.25 / $10 | 400K | 16.0 | Aug 2025 |
| 62 | xAI · General purpose | 90 | — | — | $3 / $15 | 131K | 10.0 | Apr 2025 |
| 63 | Alibaba Cloud · Open-source | 90 | — | — | $1.04 / $6.24 | 262K | 24.7 | Apr 2026 |
| 64 | Gemini 3.6 Flash New Google · Fast multimodal at mid-tier price | 90 | 1481 | 148 t/s | $1.5 / $7.5 | 1M | 20.0 | Jul 2026 |
| 65 | OpenAI · Long context | 89 | 1310 | 120 t/s | $2 / $8 | 1M | 17.8 | Apr 2025 |
| 66 | Moonshot AI · Speed & cost | 89 | 1452 | — | $0.4 / $1.9 | 262K | 77.4 | Jan 2026 |
| 67 | MiniMax · Open-weight agentic coding | 89 | 1455 | 80 t/s | $0.6 / $2.4 | 1M | 59.3 | Jun 2026 |
| 68 | · Open-weight agentic coding (provisional) | 89 | — | — | $0.98 / $3.08 | 200K | 43.8 | Jun 2026 |
| 69 | · Open-weight agentic & tool use | 88 | 1467 | 48 t/s | $0.98 / $3.08 | 200K | 43.3 | Apr 2026 |
| 70 | OpenAI · Multimodal | 88 | — | — | $10 / $10 | 400K | 8.8 | Oct 2025 |
| 71 | OpenAI · Complex analysis | 88 | — | — | $15 / $120 | 400K | 1.3 | Oct 2025 |
| 72 | Anthropic · General purpose | 88 | — | — | $3 / $15 | 1M | 9.8 | Sep 2025 |
| 73 | OpenAI · General purpose | 88 | — | — | $2.5 / $10 | 128K | 14.1 | Aug 2025 |
| 74 | OpenAI · Search + citations | 88 | — | — | $2.5 / $10 | 128K | 14.1 | Mar 2025 |
| 75 | OpenAI · Hard reasoning | 88 | — | — | $15 / $60 | 200K | 2.3 | Dec 2024 |
| 76 | OpenAI · General purpose | 88 | — | — | $2.5 / $10 | 128K | 14.1 | Nov 2024 |
| 77 | OpenAI · Multimodal | 88 | — | — | $6 / $18 | 128K | 7.3 | May 2024 |
| 78 | OpenAI · General purpose | 88 | — | — | $5 / $15 | 128K | 8.8 | May 2024 |
| 79 | OpenAI · Multimodal | 88 | — | — | $10 / $30 | 128K | 4.4 | Apr 2024 |
| 80 | OpenAI · Complex analysis | 88 | — | — | $10 / $30 | 128K | 4.4 | Jan 2024 |
| 81 | OpenAI · Multimodal | 88 | — | — | $10 / $30 | 128K | 4.4 | Nov 2023 |
| 82 | Z.ai: GLM 5OSS · Open-source | 88 | 1450 | — | $0.6 / $1.92 | 80K | 69.8 | Feb 2026 |
| 83 | Anthropic · Coding & balance | 88 | 1320 | 95 t/s | $3 / $15 | 200K | 9.8 | May 2025 |
| 84 | OpenAI · Reasoning & math | 88 | 1305 | 155 t/s | $1.1 / $4.4 | 200K | 32.0 | Jan 2025 |
| 85 | GLM-5.1OSS Z.ai (Zhipu AI) · Open-weight agentic & tool use | 88 | 1467 | 48 t/s | $0.98 / $3.08 | 200K | 43.3 | Apr 2026 |
| 86 | xAI · Real-time info | 87 | 1330 | 82 t/s | $3 / $15 | 131K | 9.7 | Feb 2025 |
| 87 | DeepSeek · Open-source | 87 | 1455 | — | $0.252 / $0.378 | 164K | 276.2 | Dec 2025 |
| 88 | · Open-source | 86 | — | — | $0.135 / $0.5 | 131K | 270.9 | Dec 2025 |
| 89 | DeepSeek · Open-source | 86 | — | — | $0.287 / $0.431 | 164K | 239.6 | Dec 2025 |
| 90 | DeepSeek · Open-source | 86 | — | — | $0.27 / $0.41 | 164K | 252.9 | Sep 2025 |
| 91 | DeepSeek · Open-source | 86 | — | — | $0.27 / $0.95 | 164K | 141.0 | Sep 2025 |
| 92 | DeepSeek · Open-source | 86 | — | — | $0.21 / $0.79 | 33K | 172.0 | Aug 2025 |
| 93 | DeepSeek · Open-source | 86 | — | — | $0.2 / $0.77 | 164K | 177.3 | Mar 2025 |
| 94 | Anthropic · General purpose | 86 | — | — | $3 / $15 | 200K | 9.6 | Feb 2025 |
| 95 | Anthropic · Hard reasoning | 86 | — | — | $3 / $15 | 200K | 9.6 | Feb 2025 |
| 96 | DeepSeek · Best open-source value | 86 | 1310 | 62 t/s | $0.27 / $1.1 | 128K | 125.5 | Mar 2025 |
| 97 | Alibaba Cloud · Multilingual & APAC | 86 | 1448 | 124 t/s | $1.4 / $5.6 | 256K | 24.6 | Apr 2026 |
| 98 | Alibaba Cloud · Multilingual & APAC | 86 | 1448 | 124 t/s | $1.4 / $5.6 | 256K | 24.6 | Apr 2026 |
| 99 | OpenAI · General purpose | 85 | 1285 | 109 t/s | $2.5 / $10 | 128K | 13.6 | May 2024 |
| 100 | OpenAI · General purpose | 85 | 1285 | 109 t/s | $2.5 / $10 | 128K | 13.6 | May 2024 |
How the LLM leaderboard works
We pull official provider pricing every 24 hours, Artificial Analysis benchmark snapshots weekly, and LMSys Arena Elo as it publishes. The composite quality index is a 0-100 normalization over MMLU Pro, HumanEval, and MATH, weighted by recency and cross-validated against Arena Elo. We do not accept vendor-supplied numbers without an independent reference.
Where the leaderboard is wrong
No leaderboard predicts your production accuracy. LMSys Arena rewards style and short-conversation polish; a top-Arena model can still under-perform on your specific function-calling schema or long-context retrieval workload. Build an internal eval harness before you commit. See our LMArena Elo explained and LLM routing writeups for the deep-dive.
Related rankings
- AI Model Leaderboard: same data, broader entry point
- Models Leaderboard
- GenAI Leaderboard
- AI Vendor Lock-in Leaderboard