Best AI models for general use.

334 available models considered · 42 with comparable evidence

An everyday assistant needs to follow your instructions, explain clearly and handle questions from different subjects. Start with a model that covers those needs, then compare the providers offering it and the cost of your usual prompts.

For a balanced task, the current best measured match is Claude Fable 5 at 84.4/100 task fit. Change the difficulty or add requirements in the finder.

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Quick tasks

Rephrase a message, explain a term or turn a short note into a checklist.

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Default range

Balanced

Compare several options or build a practical plan around your requirements.

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Complex tasks

Work through competing constraints, challenge an argument or connect ideas across a long brief.

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Balanced task range

Best measured matches

Add requirements in the finder →

Task fit applies the published weights for general. Price helps choose a provider after capability; it does not raise a weaker model into this range.

  1. Best match

    Claude Fable 5

    Anthropic

    Task fit

    84.4 / 100

    Capability 83/100

    Lowest eligible listed rate

    $10 in · $50 out / M tokens

    Amazon Bedrock

    Price checked 22 Sept 2026

    Measured as claude-fable-5-max-effort · max effort. Source ↗

  2. Best value · Lowest cost

    DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

    DeepSeek · open weights

    Task fit

    80.2 / 100

    Capability 81.1/100

    Lowest eligible listed rate

    $0.0422 in · $0.0844 out / M tokens

    TrustedRouter

    Price checked 22 Sept 2026

    Measured as deepseek-v4.1-flash-max · max effort. Source ↗

  3. Task fit

    84.2 / 100

    Capability 83.4/100

    Lowest eligible listed rate

    $10 in · $50 out / M tokens

    Amazon Bedrock

    Price checked 22 Sept 2026

    Measured as claude-fable-5-1-max-effort · max effort. Source ↗

  4. Task fit

    84.2 / 100

    Capability 82.2/100

    Lowest eligible listed rate

    $9.5 in · $47.5 out / M tokens

    Jiekou

    Price checked 22 Sept 2026

    Measured as gpt-6-astra-max · max effort. Source ↗

  5. Task fit

    82.9 / 100

    Capability 81.6/100

    Lowest eligible listed rate

    $1.25 in · $0.15 out / M tokens

    NanoGPT

    Price checked 22 Sept 2026

    Measured as muse-spark-1.3-xhigh · xhigh effort. Source ↗

  6. Task fit

    82.6 / 100

    Capability 81.1/100

    Lowest eligible listed rate

    $2 in · $10 out / M tokens

    Nous Portal

    Price checked 22 Sept 2026

    Measured as gpt-5.6-sol-max · max effort. Source ↗

  7. Task fit

    81.7 / 100

    Capability 80.2/100

    Lowest eligible listed rate

    $4.5455 in · $27.2727 out / M tokens

    Poe

    Price checked 22 Sept 2026

    Measured as gpt-5.5-xhigh · xhigh effort. Source ↗

  8. Task fit

    81.6 / 100

    Capability 78.8/100

    Lowest eligible listed rate

    $0.75 in · $3.75 out / M tokens

    DeepInfra

    Price checked 22 Sept 2026

    Measured as gemini-3.7-flash-high · high thinking. Source ↗

  9. Kimi K3

    Moonshot AI · open weights

    Task fit

    80.7 / 100

    Capability 79.2/100

    Lowest eligible listed rate

    $2 in · $0.2 out / M tokens

    NanoGPT

    Price checked 22 Sept 2026

    Measured as kimi-k3 · published configuration; effort not stated. Source ↗

  10. Task fit

    80.4 / 100

    Capability 80.1/100

    Lowest eligible listed rate

    $5 in · $25 out / M tokens

    Amazon Bedrock

    Price checked 22 Sept 2026

    Measured as claude-opus-5-max-effort · max effort. Source ↗

How to read this guide

General-use scores combine published benchmark results. They do not measure personal usefulness, response speed or the features of a particular chat app.

The recommendations use the same Balanced settings as the interactive finder. See the Capability methodology for sources, exact identity rules, task weights and difficulty ranges.

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