Task fit first
Extraction, long-context synthesis, coding, and conversation each favor different families. We benchmark on your tasks, not leaderboards.
Resources · Model Tracker
The frontier, without the fan club.
A working reference we maintain for client engagements — which families excel where, what they cost relative to each other, and how hard they are to leave.
Snapshot: August 2026
| Family | Provider | Stands out at | Context | Cost tier | Open weights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT series | OpenAI | Broad reasoning, mature tooling ecosystem, strong instruction-following | Large | $$$ | No |
| Claude series | Anthropic | Long-document analysis, coding, nuanced safety behavior | X-Large | $$$ | No |
| Gemini series | Native multimodality, huge context, workspace integration | X-Large | $$ | No | |
| Llama series | Meta | Open-weight workhorse for self-hosting and data-privacy-sensitive workloads | Medium | $ | Yes |
| Mistral series | Mistral AI | Efficient models, EU hosting options, permissive licensing tiers | Medium | $ | Partial |
| DeepSeek series | DeepSeek | Cost-efficient reasoning performance; aggressive pricing | Large | $ | Yes |
| Qwen series | Alibaba | Multilingual breadth, competitive open-weight releases | Medium–Large | $ | Yes |
Cost tiers are relative ($ lowest to $$$ highest) across comparable capability classes; context classes group typical usable windows. This page is a deliberately durable summary — exact versions, benchmarks, and prices change monthly. Clients receive a live tracker with per-task benchmark results as part of every engagement.
How we actually choose.
Total unit economics
Price per token is the smallest line. We model caching, routing, failure retries, and eval costs into the real number.
Exit cost
Every selection is scored on how expensive it is to leave. High exit cost needs an exceptional performance gap to justify.
Data boundaries
Residency, retention, and training-use terms differ sharply between API and open-weight paths — often the deciding factor in regulated sectors.
Get tracker updates when the frontier moves.
Material shifts (new frontiers, price moves, licensing changes) go out to newsletter subscribers first.