METHOD AIS-V2 / EDITION 2026.09
A practical evidence catalogue for downloadable models. Current quality claims require comparable versioned runs; legacy composite scores remain visible only inside profiles as frozen audit snapshots.
Downloadable weights do not automatically mean an OSI-approved software licence. Method AIS-V2 treats every result as a versioned model × harness × settings × task record and does not convert the frozen legacy composite into a current universal quality rank.
Best for: Design-led teams and self-hosters who want the best visual-preference model with open weights
First-party Hugging Face card, two independent human-preference boards (one #1 placement), Alibaba and OpenRouter price rows, and AA measurements. Only the AA index value is disputed.
Best for: Agentic coding teams that want near-frontier terminal/SWE performance with open weights and low cost
First-party Z.ai launch post and Hugging Face card give detailed benchmarks with context/output settings, and Z.ai's own pricing page gives exact rates. Weakened by the missing SWE-bench-family and Design Arena coverage and by unclear licence text.
Best for: Cost-controlled agentic backend and full-stack work, and teams that need MIT-licensed weights for compliance
First-party pricing and version table, first-party Hugging Face card with a full benchmark table and stated harness, two independent preference boards, two third-party benchmark leaderboards and two independent speed measurements.
Best for: Budget-conscious frontend teams and self-hosters who want frontier-adjacent UI quality
Vendor model card, Alibaba pricing page and a detailed third-party teardown of the weights-vs-API split, plus Arena and AA. Benchmarks are vendor-run under the Claude Code harness, and licence terms come from a secondary analysis of the LICENSE file.
Best for: Cost-driven teams and self-hosters who want a permissively licensed frontier-scale coding model
Strong first-party evidence (Hugging Face card with benchmark table, Tencent newsroom with exact prices) plus Arena and OpenRouter. Weakened by preview status, missing AA coverage, undocumented modalities and vendor-run benchmarks.
Best for: High-concurrency, low-latency coding assistance and batch page generation on a tight budget
First-party pricing and version table, first-party weights card with harness disclosure, two preference boards, two benchmark leaderboards plus an independent Qwen re-run, and AA speed measurements.
Best for: Teams that need a self-hostable, screenshot-capable frontend model on their own hardware
Detailed vendor model card with harness disclosure, Alibaba pricing, Arena and AA. Licence is only confirmed by secondary sources, and release date differs between QwenCloud (Aug 19) and AA (Aug 14).
Best for: Teams that want an MIT-licensed, self-hostable model with good design taste and instant responses
Z.ai pricing page, Alibaba regional price rows, two preference boards, a third-party SWE-bench Pro placement and two vendor comparison tables. Licence (MIT) rests on Artificial Analysis rather than the model card.
Best for: High-volume, cost-capped code and content generation where design quality is not critical
Price, context and speed come only from Artificial Analysis; the single SWE-bench row is labelled 'Preview' and may not correspond to GA hy3; modalities and max output are undocumented on fetched pages.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.
Best for: Catalogue discovery; compare availability, context, and public token pricing before benchmark review.
Availability and price come from OpenRouter; normalized frontend and coding evidence has not yet been reviewed.