AI Tools Frontier AI Models
The newest flagship models from the major AI labs, side by side: when they launched, what they accept, how much they remember, whether the weights are open, and what the API costs. Every figure links to the lab's official page.
| Lab | Model | Released | Type | Modalities | Context | Weights | API price | Best for | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | GPT-6 Astragpt-6-astra | Sep 3, 2026 | Flagship reasoning | Text, image → text | 1.05M | Closed | $10 / $50Prompts over 272K tokens cost more | Hardest reasoning, coding, research and computer useUse it: ChatGPT (paid plans), OpenAI API, Azure, Amazon Bedrock | Official ↗ Tool review |
| OpenAI | GPT-6.1 Solgpt-6.1-sol | Sep 29, 2026 | Mid-tier reasoning | — | — | Closed | $2 / $10Prompts over 272K tokens cost more | Complex coding and professional work at lower cost than AstraUse it: OpenAI API, ChatGPT Work, Codex | Official ↗ Tool review |
| Anthropic | Claude Opus 5.5claude-opus-5-5 | Sep 22, 2026 | Flagship reasoning | Text, image → text | 1M | Closed | $4 / $20 | Long-running agentic coding and knowledge workUse it: Claude apps, Claude API, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud, Microsoft Foundry | Official ↗ Tool review |
| Anthropic | Claude Fable 5.1claude-fable-5-1 | — | Top-tier reasoning | Text, image → text | 1M | Closed | $10 / $50 | Demanding reasoning and long-horizon agent workUse it: Claude API | Official ↗ Tool review |
| Google DeepMind | Gemini 4 Argongemini-4-argon | Oct 13, 2026 | Flagship reasoning | Text, image, video, audio, PDF → text | 1M | Closed | $2 / $10Introductory price through Nov 30, 2026; $4 / $20 from Dec 1 | Complex coding, agents, math and scienceUse it: Gemini app (AI Pro/Ultra), Gemini API, AI Studio, Google Antigravity | Official ↗ Tool review |
| Google DeepMind | Gemini 3.8 Flashgemini-3.8-flash | Sep 2, 2026 | Fast workhorse | — | — | Closed | $0.75 / $3.75Introductory price through Dec 31, 2026; $1.50 / $7.50 from Jan 1, 2027 | Fast, low-cost coding and agent tasksUse it: Gemini app, Gemini API, AI Studio, Gemini Enterprise | Official ↗ Tool review |
| xAI | Grok 4.7grok-4.7 | Sep 21, 2026 | Flagship reasoning | Text, image → text | 500K | Closed | $2 / $6Prompts over 200K tokens: $4 / $12 | Coding, agentic tool use and knowledge workUse it: xAI API, Grok Build, Cursor, cloud platforms | Official ↗ Tool review |
| Meta | Muse Wonder 1.0muse-wonder-1.0 | Oct 12, 2026 | Flagship reasoning | Text, image, video, audio, PDF → text | 1M | Closed | $4 / $20 | Personal and professional agents, coding, memoryUse it: Meta Model API, Muse Code | Official ↗ Tool review |
| Meta | Muse Spark Open | Oct 15, 2026 | Open-weight MoE (816B total / 42B active) | Multimodal | 1M | Open | —Free weights; hosted price varies by provider | Self-hosted coding and agent workUse it: Hugging Face, OpenRouter, Together AI, Groq, Fireworks and others | Official ↗ |
| Mistral AI | Mistral Large 4mistral-large-4 | Oct 6, 2026 | Open-weight MoE (1.05T total / 52B active), public preview | Text, image → text | 1M | Open | $1.36 / $4.18List price; on sale at $0.68 / $2.09 at time of writing. Weights announced, API-only preview until release | Low-cost general multimodal work, EU providerUse it: Mistral API (La Plateforme), Le Chat | Official ↗ |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek-V4.1-Flashdeepseek-flash | Sep 10, 2026 | MoE reasoning (552B total) | Text, image → text | 1M | — | $0.3 / $1.2Peak price; off-peak is half ($0.15 / $0.60) | Very cheap reasoning, coding and agentsUse it: DeepSeek app, DeepSeek API | Official ↗ Tool review |
| Alibaba Qwen | Qwen3.8-Maxqwen3.8-max | Aug 3, 2026 | Flagship MoE (2.4T) | Text, image, video → text | 1M | — | $2 / $6International (Singapore) rate; $1.65 / $4.95 in other regions | Long-horizon coding and office workUse it: Qwen Chat, Alibaba Cloud Model Studio | Official ↗ |
| Amazon | Nova 2 Liteamazon.nova-2-lite-v1:0 | Dec 2, 2025 | Fast reasoning | Text, image, video → text | 1M | Closed | —See Amazon Bedrock pricing | Low-cost enterprise automation and document processingUse it: Amazon Bedrock, SageMaker AI | Official ↗ |
| Microsoft | MAI-Code-1.1-Flash | Oct 7, 2026 | Small coding model | — | 256K | — | —Free to run locally; downloadable | On-device and in-editor codingUse it: GitHub Copilot, local download | Official ↗ Tool review |
| Moonshot AI | Kimi K3kimi-k3 | Jul 16, 2026 | Open-weight MoE (2.8T) | Text, image, video → text | 1M | Open | $3 / $15 | Long-horizon coding, knowledge work and reasoningUse it: Kimi app, Kimi API, Amazon Bedrock, Hugging Face | Official ↗ |
| Zhipu (Z.ai) | GLM-5.3-Flashglm-5.3-flash | Aug 26, 2026 | Open-weight MoE (320B total / 18B active) | Text, image, video, file → text | 1M | Open | $0.15 / $0.5 | Budget coding, visual coding and office tasksUse it: Z.ai chat, Z.ai API, GLM Coding Plan, Hugging Face | Official ↗ |
No models match your filters.
A dash (—) means the figure was not confirmed on an official source when we checked. Prices are standard list rates for short prompts; batch, caching, long-context and regional rates differ. Click a column header to sort.
How to choose an AI model
- Just want to chat or write? Use the app, not the API. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Meta AI all run their latest models, and the differences matter less than the plan you pick.
- Hard coding, research or agent work? Start with a flagship (GPT-6 Astra, Claude Opus 5.5, Gemini 4 Argon, Grok 4.7, Muse Wonder) and test two of them on your own tasks.
- High volume on a budget? Fast, cheap models such as Gemini 3.8 Flash, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash or GLM-5.3-Flash can cost a tenth as much or less.
- Need privacy, offline use or fine-tuning? Pick an open-weight model (Kimi K3, GLM-5.3-Flash, Mistral Large 4, Muse Spark Open) and host it yourself or with a provider you trust.
- Long documents or big codebases? Most flagships now offer around 1M tokens of context; check the Context column.
- Always test first. Benchmarks and prices change monthly. Run a few real prompts before committing.
Frequently asked questions
What is a frontier AI model?
A frontier model is one of the most capable AI models available at a given time, usually the newest flagship from a major lab such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind or xAI. These models set the pace on reasoning, coding and agent benchmarks.
Which AI model is the best right now?
There is no single best model. For the hardest reasoning and coding work, flagships like GPT-6 Astra, Claude Opus 5.5, Gemini 4 Argon, Grok 4.7 and Muse Wonder are the top tier. For everyday tasks on a budget, cheaper models like Gemini 3.8 Flash, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash or GLM-5.3-Flash are often good enough.
What does "price per 1M tokens" mean?
API providers bill by tokens, small chunks of text (roughly three-quarters of a word in English). The table shows the US dollar price for one million input tokens (what you send) and one million output tokens (what the model writes). Output usually costs several times more than input.
What is a context window?
The context window is how much text (and images or other media) a model can consider at once, measured in tokens. A 1M-token window holds several long books or a large codebase in a single request.
What is the difference between open-weight and closed models?
Open-weight models, such as Kimi K3, GLM-5.3-Flash, Mistral Large 4 and Muse Spark Open, publish their trained weights so you can download, self-host and fine-tune them. Closed models are only available through the lab’s apps and API.
Do I need the API to use these models?
No. Most flagship models are also available in consumer apps such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Meta AI, usually with a free tier and paid plans. The API is for developers building their own apps.
How often is this list updated?
Andrew re-checks each model against the official lab announcements and docs regularly. This page was last updated on Oct 16, 2026. A dash means a figure could not be verified from an official source.