# TCAI Benchmark — FINAL Results (human-adjudicated)

50 prompts x 12 models x 2 runs = **1,184 scored responses** (16 Kimi K3 API failures excluded).

**Scoring:** objective prompts auto-graded against the answer key. Subjective prompts scored blind by three lab-neutral LLM judges (MiniMax M3, NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Ultra, Qwen 3.7 Max), median of three. The **160 most contested** responses were then re-scored by a **human reviewer**, whose scores override the judges.


| Score source | Responses |
|---|---|
| Human reviewer (contested) | 160 |
| 3-judge median | 416 |
| Auto-graded objective | 624 |


## Category leaderboards


### Writing

| # | Model | Billing | Score (1-5) | Objective | Blended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | openai/gpt-5.6-luna | credits | 4.88 | - | **97.1** |
| 2 | moonshotai/kimi-k3 | credits | 4.87 | - | **96.7** |
| 3 | meta/muse-spark-1.1 | free | 4.80 | - | **95.0** |
| 4 | anthropic/claude-opus-5 | credits | 4.70 | - | **92.5** |
| 5 | google/gemini-3.6-flash | credits | 4.68 | - | **92.1** |
| 6 | perplexity/sonar-pro | credits | 4.58 | - | **89.6** |
| 7 | deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro | free | 4.57 | - | **89.2** |
| 8 | z-ai/glm-5.2 | free | 4.45 | - | **86.2** |
| 9 | openai/gpt-5.4-mini | free | 4.35 | - | **83.7** |
| 10 | mistralai/mistral-small-2603 | free | 4.12 | - | **77.9** |
| 11 | anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 | free | 3.88 | - | **72.1** |
| 12 | x-ai/grok-4.3 | free | 3.52 | - | **62.9** |

### Research

| # | Model | Billing | Score (1-5) | Objective | Blended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | openai/gpt-5.4-mini | free | 4.93 | 100% | **99.2** |
| 2 | anthropic/claude-opus-5 | credits | 4.90 | 100% | **98.8** |
| 3 | perplexity/sonar-pro | credits | 4.80 | 100% | **97.5** |
| 4 | openai/gpt-5.6-luna | credits | 4.77 | 100% | **97.1** |
| 5 | anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 | free | 4.73 | 100% | **96.7** |
| 6 | z-ai/glm-5.2 | free | 4.63 | 100% | **95.4** |
| 7 | google/gemini-3.6-flash | credits | 4.57 | 100% | **94.6** |
| 8 | x-ai/grok-4.3 | free | 4.57 | 100% | **94.6** |
| 9 | moonshotai/kimi-k3 | credits | 4.50 | 100% | **93.8** |
| 10 | meta/muse-spark-1.1 | free | 4.37 | 100% | **92.1** |
| 11 | deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro | free | 4.23 | 100% | **90.4** |
| 12 | mistralai/mistral-small-2603 | free | 3.97 | 100% | **87.1** |

### Reasoning

| # | Model | Billing | Score (1-5) | Objective | Blended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 | free | - | 100% | **100.0** |
| 2 | deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro | free | - | 100% | **100.0** |
| 3 | google/gemini-3.6-flash | credits | - | 100% | **100.0** |
| 4 | meta/muse-spark-1.1 | free | - | 100% | **100.0** |
| 5 | moonshotai/kimi-k3 | credits | - | 100% | **100.0** |
| 6 | openai/gpt-5.6-luna | credits | - | 100% | **100.0** |
| 7 | x-ai/grok-4.3 | free | - | 100% | **100.0** |
| 8 | z-ai/glm-5.2 | free | - | 100% | **100.0** |
| 9 | anthropic/claude-opus-5 | credits | - | 95% | **95.0** |
| 10 | openai/gpt-5.4-mini | free | - | 90% | **90.0** |
| 11 | perplexity/sonar-pro | credits | - | 90% | **90.0** |
| 12 | mistralai/mistral-small-2603 | free | - | 70% | **70.0** |

### Everyday work

| # | Model | Billing | Score (1-5) | Objective | Blended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | openai/gpt-5.6-luna | credits | 4.94 | 100% | **99.3** |
| 2 | moonshotai/kimi-k3 | credits | 4.86 | 100% | **98.3** |
| 3 | meta/muse-spark-1.1 | free | 4.69 | 100% | **96.2** |
| 4 | x-ai/grok-4.3 | free | 4.69 | 100% | **96.2** |
| 5 | google/gemini-3.6-flash | credits | 4.58 | 100% | **94.8** |
| 6 | anthropic/claude-opus-5 | credits | 4.53 | 100% | **94.1** |
| 7 | deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro | free | 4.50 | 100% | **93.8** |
| 8 | perplexity/sonar-pro | credits | 4.64 | 94% | **92.4** |
| 9 | z-ai/glm-5.2 | free | 4.31 | 100% | **91.3** |
| 10 | openai/gpt-5.4-mini | free | 4.25 | 100% | **90.6** |
| 11 | anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 | free | 4.31 | 88% | **85.1** |
| 12 | mistralai/mistral-small-2603 | free | 3.61 | 94% | **79.5** |

### Quick answers

| # | Model | Billing | Score (1-5) | Objective | Blended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | meta/muse-spark-1.1 | free | 5.00 | 100% | **100.0** |
| 2 | mistralai/mistral-small-2603 | free | 5.00 | 100% | **100.0** |
| 3 | openai/gpt-5.6-luna | credits | 5.00 | 100% | **100.0** |
| 4 | perplexity/sonar-pro | credits | 5.00 | 100% | **100.0** |
| 5 | openai/gpt-5.4-mini | free | 4.94 | 100% | **99.3** |
| 6 | google/gemini-3.6-flash | credits | 4.89 | 100% | **98.6** |
| 7 | moonshotai/kimi-k3 | credits | 4.67 | 100% | **95.8** |
| 8 | anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 | free | 4.94 | 93% | **95.7** |
| 9 | deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro | free | 4.50 | 100% | **93.8** |
| 10 | anthropic/claude-opus-5 | credits | 4.44 | 100% | **93.1** |
| 11 | z-ai/glm-5.2 | free | 4.67 | 93% | **92.3** |
| 12 | x-ai/grok-4.3 | free | 4.06 | 100% | **88.2** |

## Overall

| # | Model | Billing | Objective | Subjective | Blended | Speed | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | openai/gpt-5.6-luna | credits | 100% | 4.89 | **98.6** | 3.01s | 0.68 |
| 2 | moonshotai/kimi-k3 | credits | 100% | 4.76 | **97.0** | 15.97s | 19.03 |
| 3 | meta/muse-spark-1.1 | free | 100% | 4.71 | **96.4** | 8.90s | 7.08 |
| 4 | google/gemini-3.6-flash | credits | 100% | 4.66 | **95.7** | 6.85s | 17.72 |
| 5 | anthropic/claude-opus-5 | credits | 98% | 4.67 | **94.9** | 8.04s | 36.77 |
| 6 | perplexity/sonar-pro | credits | 95% | 4.69 | **93.8** | 3.18s | 19.74 |
| 7 | deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro | free | 100% | 4.47 | **93.4** | 15.09s | 4.02 |
| 8 | z-ai/glm-5.2 | free | 98% | 4.48 | **92.5** | 10.61s | 3.73 |
| 9 | openai/gpt-5.4-mini | free | 96% | 4.52 | **92.1** | 1.27s | 1.05 |
| 10 | anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 | free | 96% | 4.30 | **89.3** | 2.44s | 4.03 |
| 11 | x-ai/grok-4.3 | free | 100% | 4.10 | **88.7** | 6.64s | 5.00 |
| 12 | mistralai/mistral-small-2603 | free | 88% | 4.07 | **82.1** | 0.95s | 0.45 |

## Speed (median generation time)

| # | Model | Median | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mistralai/mistral-small-2603 | 0.95s | free |
| 2 | openai/gpt-5.4-mini | 1.27s | free |
| 3 | anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 | 2.44s | free |
| 4 | openai/gpt-5.6-luna | 3.01s | credits |
| 5 | perplexity/sonar-pro | 3.18s | credits |
| 6 | x-ai/grok-4.3 | 6.64s | free |
| 7 | google/gemini-3.6-flash | 6.85s | credits |
| 8 | anthropic/claude-opus-5 | 8.04s | credits |
| 9 | meta/muse-spark-1.1 | 8.90s | free |
| 10 | z-ai/glm-5.2 | 10.61s | free |
| 11 | deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro | 15.09s | free |
| 12 | moonshotai/kimi-k3 | 15.97s | credits |

## Cost (median Tusk credits per response)

| # | Model | Credits | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mistralai/mistral-small-2603 | 0.45 | free |
| 2 | openai/gpt-5.6-luna | 0.68 | credits |
| 3 | openai/gpt-5.4-mini | 1.05 | free |
| 4 | z-ai/glm-5.2 | 3.73 | free |
| 5 | deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro | 4.02 | free |
| 6 | anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 | 4.03 | free |
| 7 | x-ai/grok-4.3 | 5.00 | free |
| 8 | meta/muse-spark-1.1 | 7.08 | free |
| 9 | google/gemini-3.6-flash | 17.72 | credits |
| 10 | moonshotai/kimi-k3 | 19.03 | credits |
| 11 | perplexity/sonar-pro | 19.74 | credits |
| 12 | anthropic/claude-opus-5 | 36.77 | credits |

## Free vs credit-based

- **credits** (5 models): objective **98.7%**, subjective **4.73/5**
- **free** (7 models): objective **96.8%**, subjective **4.38/5**

## Methodology note — single reviewer

One human reviewer scored the 160 contested responses (not two, as originally planned). They flagged 43 hard-constraint violations and left notes on most items.

**What this means for the article:** the phrase "two reviewers" must not appear. There is no inter-rater reliability figure, because with one reviewer none can be computed. State plainly: *three independent AI judges scored every subjective response; one human editor adjudicated the responses where the judges disagreed.* That is accurate and still strong — the human resolved exactly the cases the machines found hardest.

