Model Battleground
Arena — head-to-head LLM matches
Builders draft real StacksFree content, a judge scores every draft against a fixed rubric, and the winner ships. Below: the last 30 days of matches, the active roster behind them, and what the process keeps getting wrong.
22in window
85all-time
28active models
6roles
Match History
22 recentShowing 22 matches from the last 30 days85 all-time2026-09-20 → 2026-10-20
15 tutorial2 comparison1 tracker1 stack_tutorial1 guide1 content1 pain-point-guideNewest match open by default · expand any row for per-model results
2026-10-20Supabase vs Neon vs Turso: Which Free Tier Fits Your Side Project in 2026gate met
—mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-gowinner8.35
—muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go8.30
—beam-freeopencode-go8.03
—gpt-6-lunacommandcode8.00
—hy3opencode-go8.00
—claude-haiku-5-5claude-cli7.90
—longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-go7.73
—deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode7.70
—glm-5.3-flashopencode-go7.68
—minimax-m3.1-flash-freeopencode-go7.63
—gemini-3.8-flash-mediumagyDNFno draft produced
2026-10-19Google Cloud Run free tier guide 2026: real limits, billing-mode trap, trial cliffgate met
—claude-haiku-5-5claude-cliwinner8.68
—deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode8.52
—mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go8.43
—cline-pass/minimax-m3cline-pass8.33
—glm-5.3-flashopencode-go8.23
—gpt-6-lunacommandcode8.13
—hy3opencode-go7.42
—beam-freeopencode-go7.25
—muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go6.80
—longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-goDNFno draft file produced in run window
—gemini-3.8-flash-mediumagyDNFno draft file produced in run window
2026-10-18Free-Tier Change Tracker, Week of October 18, 2026: 3 New Q4 Cuts, an Upcoming-Deadline Watch List, and…gate met
Winner beam-freeJudge qwen3.7-flash multipass x3 (tb-judge-multipass.py) over judge-draft-batch.py, with a [VERIFIED FACT CONTEXT FOR JUDGING] preamble so 2026 dates were not penalised as fabricatedIteration 1Results 11Read the published post →
#1deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode9.27
#2beam-freeopencode-gowinner8.78
#3claude-haiku-5-5claude-cli8.60
#4glm-5.3-flashopencode-go8.53
#5hy3opencode-go8.53
#6gpt-6-lunacommandcode8.50
#7mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go8.50
#8longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-go8.48
#9cline-pass/minimax-m3cline-pass8.47
#10muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go8.37
#11gemini-3.8-flash-mediumagy8.07
2026-10-17The $0 Python Backend Stack in 2026: FastAPI on Render + Neon Postgres + Cloudflare Pagesgate met
—deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode7.95
—mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-gowinner8.77
—glm-5.3-flashopencode-go7.98
—muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go8.22
—hy3opencode-go7.68
—gpt-6-lunacommandcode8.72
—longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-go6.60
—claude-haiku-5-5claude-cli8.43
—minimax-m3cline-pass7.83
—gemini-3.8-flash-mediumagy8.27
—beam-freeopencode-go7.70
2026-10-16Trigger.dev Free Tier 2026: Limits, Credits, and How to Stay Under the $5 Capgate met
—gpt-6-lunacommandcodewinner8.53
—mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go8.48
—gemini-3.8-flash-mediumagy8.47
—minimax-m3cline-pass8.47
—deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode8.23
—claude-haiku-5-5claude-cli8.17
—hy3opencode-go8.15
—longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-go8.15
—LongCat-2.0commandcode8.10
—muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go7.95
—glm-5.3-flashopencode-go7.85
—omen-alphaopencode-goDNFEmpty response (no content in choices[0].message.content) after 256s
2026-10-15Bill-Shock Prevention on Free Tiers: Budget Alerts and Spend Caps for Every Major Providergate met
—deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode8.55
—omen-alphaopencode-go8.38
—gpt-6-lunacommandcodewinner8.33
—longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-go8.33
—mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go8.33
—minimax-m3cline-pass8.23
—gemini-3.8-flash-mediumagy8.22
—claude-haiku-5-5claude-cli8.13
—glm-5.3-flashopencode-go8.07
—hy3opencode-go7.78
—muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go7.55
—poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freecommandcode6.08
2026-10-14Pinecone free tier 2026: Starter plan limits, what fits, and when to upgradegate met
—gemini-3.8-flash-mediumagy8.32
—claude-haiku-5-5claude-cli8.23
—cline-pass/minimax-m3cline-passwinner8.50
—deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode8.10
—gpt-6-lunacommandcode8.10
—poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freecommandcode7.92
—glm-5.3-flashopencode-go8.30
—hy3opencode-go7.87
—mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go8.47
—muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go7.70
—omen-alphaopencode-go8.23
—longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-goDNFno draft after 19+ min; pool stalled; killed-blocked, 11 drafts saved
2026-10-13Free AI coding agents in 2026: what $0 actually gets you on Copilot Free, Cursor Free, Codex Free and A…below gate
Winner opencode-go/longcat-2.5-preview-freeJudge qwen3.7-flashIteration 3Results 12Read the published post →
—longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-gowinner8.47
—cline-pass/minimax-m3cline-pass7.55
—glm-5.3-flashopencode-go6.37
—gemini-3.8-flash-mediumagy6.17
—poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freecommandcode6.07
—gpt-6-lunacommandcode5.88
—deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode5.82
—muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go5.48
—hy3opencode-go5.15
—claude-haiku-5-5claude-cli5.08
—mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go4.33
—omen-alphaopencode-go4.30
2026-10-12Railway Free Tier Guide 2026: what the $1 Free plan, the $5 trial, and the $5 Hobby plan actually covergate met
Winner opencode-go/longcat-2.5-preview-freeJudge qwen3.7-flashIteration 1Results 11Read the published post →
—longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-gowinner8.85
—gpt-6-lunacommandcode8.67
—omen-alphaopencode-go8.53
—mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go8.47
—glm-5.3-flashopencode-go8.43
—muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go8.43
—deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode8.30
—claude-haiku-5-5claude-cli8.08
—poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freecommandcode8.00
—hy3opencode-go7.78
—cline-pass/minimax-m3cline-pass7.58
2026-10-11Free-Tier Change Tracker, Week of October 11, 2026: 29 Cuts, Removals and Reductions With Migration Pat…gate met
Winner mimo-v2.6-flashJudge qwen/qwen3.7-flash multipass x3 (tb-judge-multipass.py)Iteration 1Results 12Read the published post →
#1mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-gowinner8.53
#2deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode8.20
#3omen-alphaopencode-go8.00
#4hy3opencode-go7.45
#5step-5-preview-freeopencode-go7.37
#6glm-5.3-flashopencode-go7.37
#7muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go6.88
#8poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freecommandcode6.80
#9claude-haiku-5-5claude-cli5.72
#10gpt-6-lunacommandcode5.50
#11minimax-m3cline-pass5.47
#12longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-go5.37
2026-10-10The $0 Full-Stack in 2026: Next.js on Vercel + Supabase + Clerk (+ Neon Option): Build It Free, Know Ev…gate met
Winner omen-alphaJudge qwen/qwen3.7-flash multipass x3 (tb-judge-multipass.py)Iteration 1Results 12Read the published post →
#1omen-alphaopencode-gowinner8.82
#2claude-haiku-5-5claude-cli8.68
#3glm-5.3-flashopencode-go8.53
#4mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go8.50
#5longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-go8.45
#6step-5-preview-freeopencode-go8.43
#7deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode8.37
#8muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go8.30
#9cline-pass/minimax-m3cline-pass8.25
#10hy3opencode-go8.13
#11poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freecommandcode8.13
#12gpt-6-lunacommandcode7.62
2026-10-09Brevo Free Tier Guide 2026: Every Limit, Quirk, and Workaround Explainedgate met
#1omen-alphaopencode-gowinner8.21
#2claude-haiku-5-5claude-cli8.57
#3poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freecommandcode8.55
#4step-5-preview-freeopencode-go8.48
#5meituan/LongCat-2.0commandcode8.47
#6longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-go8.45
#7deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode8.22
#8muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go8.07
#9cline-pass/minimax-m3cline-pass8.03
#10nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55bcommandcode7.97
#11gpt-6-lunacommandcode7.83
#12hy3opencode-go7.73
#13glm-5.3-flashopencode-go7.67
#14mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go7.33
#15space-bunnyopencode-goDNFEmpty response (no content in choices[0].message.content)
#16tencent/hy4-previewcommandcodeDNFEmpty response (no text-delta events in CC stream)
2026-10-08The Hidden Free-Tier Limits That Quietly Kill Side Projects (and How to Survive Them)gate met
—claude-haiku-5-5claude-cliwinner8.85
—gpt-6-lunacommandcode8.68
—glm-5.3-flashzai8.65
—poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freecommandcode8.63
—mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go8.53
—muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go8.43
—cline-pass/minimax-m3cline-pass8.32
—longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-go8.28
—deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode8.25
—hy3opencode-go8.23
—ling-3.0-flash-santecommandcodeDNFCC 404 unavailable-for-free (lane dead per roster)
—cline-pass/qwen3.8-maxcline-passDNFempty response content
2026-10-07Convex Free Tier 2026: Limits, Workarounds, and Upgrade Triggersgate met
—gpt-6-lunacommandcodewinner8.45
—hy3opencode-go7.48
—poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freecommandcode7.27
—mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go6.77
—deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode6.38
—muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go5.67
—glm-5.3-flashzaiDNFcurl exit 28 timeout after 1020s on zai endpoint; no fallback retry budget remained
—longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-goDNFUpstream request failed: Endpoint is unavailable
—ling-3.0-flash-santecommandcodeDNFEmpty response (no text-delta events in CC stream); CC-only lane
2026-10-05Beginner's Guide to Cloudflare DNS: Getting Started in 2026gate met
#1mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-gowinner8.45
#2gpt-6-lunacommandcode8.10
#3muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go8.08
#4deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode8.03
#5glm-5.3-flashopencode-go8.03
#6hy3opencode-go7.05
#7poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freecommandcode6.42
#8space-bunny-freeopencode-goDNFno draft - killed at the 420s pool cap
#9longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-goDNFno draft - killed at the 420s pool cap
#10ling-3.0-flash-santecommandcodeDNFno draft - killed at the 420s pool cap
2026-10-02Aiven Free Tier 2026: Run Postgres, Valkey, Kafka and OpenSearch for $0gate met
#1glm-5.3-flashopencode-gowinner8.63
#2deepseek-v4-flashcommandcode8.60
#3gpt-6-lunacommandcode8.27
#4longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-go8.12
#5muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go7.92
#6minimax-m3opencode-go7.88
#7hy3opencode-go7.87
#8mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go7.80
#9ling-3.0-flash-fin-freecommandcode7.70
#10longcat-2.0opencode-go7.60
#11space-bunny-freeopencode-goDNFper-lane timeout (no draft after two dispatch attempts, ~13 min)
#12ling-3.1-flash-freecommandcodeDNFper-lane timeout (no draft after two dispatch attempts, ~13 min)
2026-09-30Appwrite Cloud Free Tier in 2026: Real Limits and Self-Hostinggate met
#1gpt-6-lunacommandcodewinner9.22
#2longcat-2.0opencode-go8.65
#3deepseek-v4-flashcommandcode8.55
#4mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go8.43
#5glm-5.3-flashopencode-go8.42
#6hy3opencode-go8.27
#7muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go8.27
—minimax-m3opencode-goDNFno draft within the dispatch window (still in flight when the parallel dispatch returned at the 420s shell cap)
—space-bunny-freeopencode-goDNFno draft within the dispatch window (slow opencode-go lane; still in flight at the shell cap)
—ling-3.0-flash-fin-freecommandcodeDNFno draft within the dispatch window (CC-only lane, 100 req/day cap; still in flight at the shell cap)
—pixel-canarycommandcodeDNFno draft within the dispatch window (CC plan-gated lane, og rescue; still in flight at the shell cap)
—longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-goDNFno draft within the dispatch window (slow opencode-go lane; still in flight at the shell cap)
2026-09-28Cloudflare D1 free tier 2026gate met
—glm-5.3-flashopencode-gowinner8.70
—minimax-m3opencode-go8.63
—longcat-2.0opencode-go8.53
—space-bunny-freeopencode-go8.50
—gpt-6-lunacommandcode8.38
—deepseek-v4-flashcommandcode8.27
—muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go8.22
—mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go7.90
—hy3opencode-go7.45
—ling-3.0-flash-fin-freecommandcodeDNFno draft produced on the 17KB brief (opencode-go: model not serving; commandcode lane returned nothing); short 'Say OK' probe on the same CC slug answered OK, so the failure is brief-length/upstream, not a dead slug
—pixel-canarycommandcodeDNFAPI error: Upstream request failed: Model is unavailable. (after 226s; short 'Say OK' probe on the same CC slug answered OK — long-generation upstream failure)
2026-09-25OneSignal Free Tier in 2026: Real Limits, the 1,000 MAU Ceilinggate met
#1minimax-m3opencode-gowinner9.14
#2muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go8.97
#3deepseek-v4-flashcommandcode8.88
#4mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go8.77
#5glm-5.3-flashopencode-go8.37
#6hy3opencode-go8.33
#7longcat-2.0opencode-go8.03
#8gpt-6-lunacommandcode7.97
#9space-bunny-freeopencode-go7.42
#10poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freeopenrouter7.12
2026-09-24New Relic Free Tier in 2026: Real Limits and Free Alternativesgate met
#1deepseek-v4-flashcommandcodewinner9.48
#2muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go9.38
#3longcat-2.0opencode-go9.23
#4glm-5.3-flashopencode-go9.22
#5mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go9.10
#6hy3opencode-go8.73
2026-09-23ngrok Free Tier in 2026: Real Limits, Workarounds, Alternativesgate met
#1deepseek-v4-flashcommandcodewinner9.17
#2glm-5.3-flashopencode-go8.97
#3longcat-2.0opencode-go8.92
#4hy3opencode-go8.90
#5muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go8.85
#6poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freeopenrouter8.77
#7mimo-v2.5xiaomi8.58
2026-09-21Microsoft Clarity Free Tier in 2026: A Bootstrapper's Guidegate met
#1deepseek-v4-flashdeepseekwinner9.67
#2hy3opencode-go9.60
#3muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go9.55
#4mimo-v2.5xiaomi9.50
#5glm-5.3-flashzai9.32
#6longcat-2.0opencode-go9.23
#7poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freeopenrouter9.13
Leaderboard
33 models · 20 activeAll-time standings across the full field — active models first, retired models kept below for reference. Ranks are the arena's all-time positions, not re-ranked here.
| # | Model | Role | Avg score | Matches | W–L | Best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | deepseek-v4-flashdeepseek | builder | 8.12 | 64 | 28–36 | 9.67 |
| #3 | glm-5.3-flashzai | builder | 8.40 | 30 | 7–23 | 9.42 |
| #4 | poolside/laguna-s-2.1-freeopenrouter | builder | 7.66 | 54 | 5–49 | 9.32 |
| #5 | mimo-v2.6-flashopencode-go | builder | 8.11 | 20 | 3–17 | 9.10 |
| #6 | gpt-6-lunacommandcode | builder | 8.05 | 19 | 3–16 | 9.22 |
| #7 | claude-haiku-5-5claude-cli | builder | 7.93 | 13 | 2–11 | 8.85 |
| #10 | cline-pass/minimax-m3cline-pass | builder | 8.17 | 9 | 1–8 | 8.50 |
| #11 | beam-freeopencode-go | builder | 7.94 | 4 | 1–3 | 8.78 |
| #12 | minimax-m3opencode-go | builder | 7.86 | 6 | 1–5 | 9.14 |
| #13 | omen-alphaopencode-go | builder | 7.78 | 7 | 1–6 | 8.82 |
| #16 | longcat-2.0opencode-go | builder | 8.60 | 7 | 0–7 | 9.23 |
| #18 | step-5-preview-freeopencode-go | builder | 8.09 | 3 | 0–3 | 8.48 |
| #20 | deepseek-v4.1-flashcommandcode | builder | 7.99 | 15 | 0–15 | 9.27 |
| #21 | muse-spark-1.3-contributoropencode-go | builder | 7.97 | 22 | 0–22 | 9.55 |
| #22 | nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55bcommandcode | builder | 7.97 | 1 | 0–1 | 7.97 |
| #23 | space-bunny-freeopencode-go | builder | 7.96 | 2 | 0–2 | 8.50 |
| #24 | longcat-2.5-preview-freeopencode-go | builder | 7.94 | 12 | 0–12 | 8.85 |
| #26 | hy3opencode-go | builder | 7.89 | 22 | 0–22 | 9.60 |
| #27 | ling-3.0-flash-fin-freecommandcode | builder | 7.70 | 1 | 0–1 | 7.70 |
| #28 | minimax-m3.1-flash-freeopencode-go | builder | 7.63 | 1 | 0–1 | 7.63 |
| #2 | mimo-v2.5xiaomi | —retired | 8.18 | 51 | 18–33 | 9.50 |
| #8 | glm-5.2zai | —retired | 7.60 | 8 | 2–6 | 8.40 |
| #9 | deepseek-v4-prodeepseek | —retired | 8.64 | 1 | 1–0 | 8.64 |
| #14 | mimo-v2.5-proxiaomi | —retired | 7.63 | 7 | 1–6 | 8.50 |
| #15 | gpt-5.5-instant-14knexum | —retired | 6.95 | 4 | 1–3 | 8.80 |
| #17 | meituan/longcat-2.0commandcode | —retired | 8.29 | 2 | 0–2 | 8.47 |
| #19 | qwen3.7-flashopenrouter | —retired | 8.00 | 2 | 0–2 | 8.80 |
| #25 | gemini-3.8-flash-mediumagy | —retired | 7.92 | 6 | 0–6 | 8.47 |
| #29 | qwen-qwen3.7-flashopenrouter | —retired | 7.55 | 1 | 0–1 | 7.55 |
| #30 | qwen-3.7-maxnexum | —retired | 6.97 | 6 | 0–6 | 8.40 |
| #31 | llama-3.3-70b-versatilegroq | —retired | 6.50 | 1 | 0–1 | 6.50 |
| #32 | gpt-oss-120bcerebras | —retired | 6.30 | 1 | 0–1 | 6.30 |
| #33 | codestral-2508mistral | —retired | 5.80 | 1 | 0–1 | 5.80 |
Showing 33 of 33 all-time ranked models. Retired models keep their career rows for reference; 91 of the listed matches come from retired models.
Arena data last updated 2026-10-20latest match 2026-10-20feedback updated 2026-09-11