What is the cheapest frontier llm right now?

OpenAI o3-mini is the current #1 on this list. Rankings move when daily ingest updates SWE-bench, Elo, price, or latency.

How is this list ranked?

Models that still clear a high Elo bar, sorted so price hurts. Weights: Elo 30%, LiveBench 30%, GPQA 25%, Out $ 15%.

Is preference Elo the only score?

Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. This list uses a named Stack Engine mix — Elo is only one input when the job is “best chatbot,” not when the job is “cheapest coding agent.”

Why should I trust this over a tweet?

Every cell has a source and an as-of date. We noindex thin pages and we do not fill missing scores. Open the model or pair page and read the snapshot.

Search Intent · cheapest frontier llm

Cheapest frontier LLM in 2026

Models that still clear a high preference-Elo bar, ranked so list price hurts.

Weights:Elo 30%LiveBench 30%GPQA 25%Out $ 15%

Current #1 Ranked PickScore 84.9 / 100

OpenAI o3-mini

OpenAI · Closed flagship

Elo: 1,560 (Top 12%)LiveBench: 72.4% (Top 6%)GPQA: 87.2% (Top 5%)Out $: $4.4/1M (Top 56%)

SWE-bench: 78.5%Elo: 1,560

View full model fact sheet

Complete Ranked Category List

Models ranked by verified benchmark weights across SWE-bench and coding preference evaluations.

#1OpenAI o3-mini(OpenAI)

Score 84.9

Elo: 1,560 (Top12%)LiveBench: 72.4% (Top6%)GPQA: 87.2% (Top5%)Out $: $4.4/1M (Top56%)

🏆 #1 Overall Leader in Category

#2Grok 4.6(xAI)

Score 81.5

Elo: 1,592 (Top6%)LiveBench: 71.4% (Top11%)GPQA: 84.6% (Top13%)Out $: $6/1M (Top68%)

Rank #2vs #1

#3Gemini 3.6 Pro(Google)

Score 81.4

Elo: 1,570 (Top9%)LiveBench: 71.8% (Top9%)GPQA: 84.4% (Top15%)Out $: $5/1M (Top63%)

Rank #3vs #1

#4GLM-5.3(Zhipu)

Score 79.9

Elo: 1,558 (Top14%)LiveBench: 70.8% (Top13%)GPQA: 83.2% (Top23%)Out $: $1.8/1M (Top42%)

Rank #4vs #1

#5Kimi K3(Moonshot)

Score 78.3

Elo: 1,528 (Top25%)LiveBench: 69.5% (Top22%)GPQA: 88.4% (Top1%)Out $: $2.5/1M (Top49%)

Rank #5vs #1

#6DeepSeek V4 Pro(DeepSeek)

Score 77.5

Elo: 1,536 (Top22%)LiveBench: 70.1% (Top18%)GPQA: 84% (Top18%)Out $: $1.6/1M (Top40%)

Rank #6vs #1

#7Gemini 3 Pro(Google)

Score 75.6

Elo: 1,552 (Top18%)LiveBench: 70.6% (Top15%)GPQA: 83.6% (Top20%)Out $: $5/1M (Top63%)

Rank #7vs #1

#8Kimi K2.5 Max(Moonshot)

Score 74.2

Elo: 1,515 (Top29%)LiveBench: 67.2% (Top32%)GPQA: 87.6% (Top3%)Out $: $2/1M (Top45%)

Rank #8vs #1

#9Gemini 3.7 Flash(Google)

Score 71.8

Elo: 1,530 (Top23%)LiveBench: 69.6% (Top20%)GPQA: 81.2% (Top30%)Out $: $3.75/1M (Top52%)

Rank #9vs #1

#10DeepSeek V4 Flash(DeepSeek)

Score 71.6

Elo: 1,490 (Top39%)LiveBench: 67.8% (Top29%)GPQA: 81.6% (Top29%)Out $: $0.28/1M (Top5%)

Rank #10vs #1

#11Qwen QwQ 32B(Alibaba)

Score 70.7

Elo: 1,495 (Top34%)LiveBench: 68% (Top27%)GPQA: 83.2% (Top23%)Out $: $1.2/1M (Top35%)

Rank #11vs #1

#12Qwen 3 Max(Alibaba)

Score 70.0

Elo: 1,518 (Top27%)LiveBench: 69.4% (Top23%)GPQA: 83.1% (Top25%)Out $: $4.8/1M (Top58%)

Rank #12vs #1

Frequently asked questions

Plain-English methodology and leaderboard answers

: OpenAI o3-mini is the current #1 on this list. Rankings move when daily ingest updates SWE-bench, Elo, price, or latency.

What is preference Elo? · How rankings update

Search Intent · cheapest frontier llm

Cheapest frontier LLM in 2026

Models that still clear a high preference-Elo bar, ranked so list price hurts.

Weights:Elo 30%LiveBench 30%GPQA 25%Out $ 15%

Current #1 Ranked PickScore 84.9 / 100

OpenAI o3-mini

OpenAI · Closed flagship

Elo: 1,560 (Top 12%)LiveBench: 72.4% (Top 6%)GPQA: 87.2% (Top 5%)Out $: $4.4/1M (Top 56%)

SWE-bench: 78.5%Elo: 1,560

View full model fact sheet

Complete Ranked Category List

Models ranked by verified benchmark weights across SWE-bench and coding preference evaluations.

#1OpenAI o3-mini(OpenAI)

Score 84.9

Elo: 1,560 (Top12%)LiveBench: 72.4% (Top6%)GPQA: 87.2% (Top5%)Out $: $4.4/1M (Top56%)

🏆 #1 Overall Leader in Category

#2Grok 4.6(xAI)

Score 81.5

Elo: 1,592 (Top6%)LiveBench: 71.4% (Top11%)GPQA: 84.6% (Top13%)Out $: $6/1M (Top68%)

Rank #2vs #1

#3Gemini 3.6 Pro(Google)

Score 81.4

Elo: 1,570 (Top9%)LiveBench: 71.8% (Top9%)GPQA: 84.4% (Top15%)Out $: $5/1M (Top63%)

Rank #3vs #1

#4GLM-5.3(Zhipu)

Score 79.9

Elo: 1,558 (Top14%)LiveBench: 70.8% (Top13%)GPQA: 83.2% (Top23%)Out $: $1.8/1M (Top42%)

Rank #4vs #1

#5Kimi K3(Moonshot)

Score 78.3

Elo: 1,528 (Top25%)LiveBench: 69.5% (Top22%)GPQA: 88.4% (Top1%)Out $: $2.5/1M (Top49%)

Rank #5vs #1

#6DeepSeek V4 Pro(DeepSeek)

Score 77.5

Elo: 1,536 (Top22%)LiveBench: 70.1% (Top18%)GPQA: 84% (Top18%)Out $: $1.6/1M (Top40%)

Rank #6vs #1

#7Gemini 3 Pro(Google)

Score 75.6

Elo: 1,552 (Top18%)LiveBench: 70.6% (Top15%)GPQA: 83.6% (Top20%)Out $: $5/1M (Top63%)

Rank #7vs #1

#8Kimi K2.5 Max(Moonshot)

Score 74.2

Elo: 1,515 (Top29%)LiveBench: 67.2% (Top32%)GPQA: 87.6% (Top3%)Out $: $2/1M (Top45%)

Rank #8vs #1

#9Gemini 3.7 Flash(Google)

Score 71.8

Elo: 1,530 (Top23%)LiveBench: 69.6% (Top20%)GPQA: 81.2% (Top30%)Out $: $3.75/1M (Top52%)

Rank #9vs #1

#10DeepSeek V4 Flash(DeepSeek)

Score 71.6

Elo: 1,490 (Top39%)LiveBench: 67.8% (Top29%)GPQA: 81.6% (Top29%)Out $: $0.28/1M (Top5%)

Rank #10vs #1

#11Qwen QwQ 32B(Alibaba)

Score 70.7

Elo: 1,495 (Top34%)LiveBench: 68% (Top27%)GPQA: 83.2% (Top23%)Out $: $1.2/1M (Top35%)

Rank #11vs #1

#12Qwen 3 Max(Alibaba)

Score 70.0

Elo: 1,518 (Top27%)LiveBench: 69.4% (Top23%)GPQA: 83.1% (Top25%)Out $: $4.8/1M (Top58%)

Rank #12vs #1

Frequently asked questions

Plain-English methodology and leaderboard answers

: OpenAI o3-mini is the current #1 on this list. Rankings move when daily ingest updates SWE-bench, Elo, price, or latency.

What is preference Elo? · How rankings update