Best value AI models.
Capability per Australian dollar: independent test results weighed against list price, with the models no one beats on both marked out. As of 23 Sep 2026, GLM-5.3 Flash leads for value, ahead of MiMo V2.6 Pro and Qwen3.8 Flash Next, out of 50 ranked models. GLM-5.3 Flash has open weights, so it can also be self-hosted.
| MODEL | FRONTIER | IN AUSTRALIA | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01GLM-5.3 FlashZ.AI | 76.7 | 41.8 | 1475 | YES | A$0.33 | SELF-HOST |
| 02MiMo V2.6 ProXIAOMI | 75.7 | 46.3 | YES | A$0.76 | NOT IN AU | |
| 03Qwen3.8 Flash NextALIBABA | 74.2 | 39.8 | YES | A$0.32 | SELF-HOST | |
| 04GPT-6 LunaOPENAI | 71.9 | 37.3 | YES | A$0.28 | GLOBAL | |
| 05Claude Opus 5.5ANTHROPIC | 68.0 | 57.6 | YES | A$11.23 | IN AU | |
| 06Muse Spark 1.3META | 66.9 | 48.1 | 1493 | YES | A$2.81 | NOT IN AU |
| 07DeepSeek V4.1 FlashDEEPSEEK | 66.6 | 39.5 | A$0.74 | SELF-HOST | ||
| 08GPT-5.6 LunaOPENAI | 64.9 | 37.3 | 1453 | A$0.63 | GLOBAL | |
| 09Step 5STEPFUN | 63.7 | 43.7 | A$2.00 | |||
| 10GLM-5.3Z.AI | 61.7 | 44.8 | 1483 | A$3.02 | SELF-HOST | |
| 11Grok 4.7XAI | 61.0 | 46.4 | A$4.21 | NOT IN AU | ||
| 12GPT-6 SolOPENAI | 60.0 | 47.5 | A$5.62 | GLOBAL | ||
| 13Qwen3.8 MaxALIBABA | 59.6 | 45.4 | 1481 | A$4.21 | NOT IN AU | |
| 14Gemini 3.8 FlashGOOGLE | 59.4 | 40.9 | 1493 | A$2.11 | GLOBAL | |
| 15Grok 4.6XAI | 58.1 | 44.3 | 1456 | A$4.21 | GLOBAL | |
| 16DeepSeek V4 FlashDEEPSEEK | 57.4 | 34.3 | A$0.93 | GLOBAL | ||
| 17Gemini 3.7 FlashGOOGLE | 56.9 | 39.1 | 1490 | A$2.11 | GLOBAL | |
| 18Claude Opus 5ANTHROPIC | 56.6 | 50.8 | 1493 | A$14.04 | IN AU | |
| 19Muse Spark 1.2META | 55.1 | 39.6 | 1500 | A$2.81 | NOT IN AU | |
| 20Claude Fable 5.1ANTHROPIC | 54.2 | 53.4 | 1499 | A$28.08 | GLOBAL | |
| 21Hy3TENCENT | 53.4 | 25.3 | 1456 | A$0.35 | SELF-HOST | |
| 22GPT-5.6 SolOPENAI | 53.3 | 47.0 | 1484 | A$11.23 | GLOBAL | |
| 23GPT-6 AstraOPENAI | 53.2 | 52.7 | 1480 | A$28.08 | GLOBAL | |
| 24MiniMax M3MINIMAX | 52.4 | 29.2 | 1441 | A$0.74 | SELF-HOST | |
| 25Qwen3.8 27BALIBABA | 52.0 | 33.7 | 1437 | A$1.58 | SELF-HOST | |
| 26GPT-5.6 TerraOPENAI | 51.5 | 42.1 | 1466 | A$6.32 | GLOBAL | |
| 27Kimi K3MOONSHOT AI | 51.1 | 43.6 | 1485 | A$8.42 | GLOBAL | |
| 28Grok 4.5XAI | 50.5 | 38.8 | 1468 | A$4.21 | NOT IN AU | |
| 29DeepSeek V4 ProDEEPSEEK | 50.2 | 36.0 | 1463 | A$2.78 | GLOBAL | |
| 30Gemini 3.6 FlashGOOGLE | 49.9 | 34.0 | 1480 | A$2.11 | GLOBAL | |
| 31Claude Fable 5ANTHROPIC | 48.9 | 49.6 | 1506 | A$28.08 | GLOBAL | |
| 32MiMo V2.5 ProXIAOMI | 47.6 | 26.0 | 1467 | A$0.76 | SELF-HOST | |
| 33Claude Sonnet 5ANTHROPIC | 47.2 | 38.2 | 1461 | A$5.62 | IN AU | |
| 34Muse Spark 1.1META | 47.0 | 33.7 | 1493 | A$2.81 | ||
| 35Gemma 4 31BGOOGLE | 46.4 | 19.0 | 1451 | A$0.29 | SELF-HOST | |
| 36GLM-5.2Z.AI | 46.3 | 33.7 | 1472 | A$3.02 | SELF-HOST | |
| 37GPT-5.4OPENAI | 45.3 | 39.0 | 1476 | A$7.90 | IN AU | |
| 38Claude Opus 4.8ANTHROPIC | 44.2 | 41.8 | 1481 | A$14.04 | IN AU | |
| 39Claude Opus 4.7ANTHROPIC | 42.7 | 40.7 | 1502 | A$14.04 | IN AU | |
| 40Gemini 3.5 FlashGOOGLE | 40.9 | 32.6 | 1478 | A$4.74 | IN AU | |
| 41Kimi K2.6MOONSHOT AI | 39.0 | 27.0 | 1460 | A$2.40 | SELF-HOST | |
| 42Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGOOGLE | 38.5 | 22.2 | 1456 | A$1.19 | GLOBAL | |
| 43GPT-5.5OPENAI | 38.5 | 38.4 | 1482 | A$15.79 | GLOBAL | |
| 44Qwen3.7 MaxALIBABA | 35.7 | 29.5 | 1473 | A$5.26 | ||
| 45GPT-5.4 miniOPENAI | 35.2 | 24.1 | 1448 | A$2.37 | ||
| 46Gemini 3.1 ProGOOGLE | 34.4 | 29.7 | 1487 | A$6.32 | GLOBAL | |
| 47Claude Sonnet 4.6ANTHROPIC | 32.4 | 30.1 | 1473 | A$8.42 | IN AU | |
| 48Gemini 3 ProGOOGLE | 32.0 | 28.0 | 1486 | A$6.32 | ||
| 49Claude Opus 4.6ANTHROPIC | 30.5 | 31.9 | 1505 | A$14.04 | IN AU | |
| 50Mistral Medium 3.5MISTRAL AI | 16.5 | 14.2 | 1426 | A$4.21 | SELF-HOST |
What goes into the value score.
Quality is the Intelligence Index; price is the blended AUD list price on a log scale, so going from A$30 to A$3 per million tokens counts the same as A$3 to A$0.30. A model is marked “frontier” when no tracked model is both smarter and cheaper.
Artificial Analysis’s composite of its independent evaluations: reasoning, knowledge, maths, coding, long context and agent tasks.
List price per million tokens, blended 3 parts input to 1 part output, converted to Australian dollars at the snapshot’s RBA rate. Excludes GST.
Scores are rescaled 0–100 across the models we track, so they compare models with each other rather than against a fixed bar. Full methodology →
Choosing a model for value.
What is the best AI model for value right now?
As of 23 Sep 2026, GLM-5.3 Flash ranks first, followed by MiMo V2.6 Pro and Qwen3.8 Flash Next. The ranking combines AA Intelligence Index and Blended price (AUD) and is refreshed weekly.
What is the best open-weights model for value?
GLM-5.3 Flash from Z.ai is the highest-ranked open-weights model (1st of 50). Open weights can be run on your own infrastructure, including in an Australian region.
Which of these models can keep data in Australia?
Of the top ten, Claude Opus 5.5 can run with requests kept in Australia on at least one major cloud platform. See the Australia page for each platform.
How is this ranking calculated?
Quality is the Intelligence Index; price is the blended AUD list price on a log scale, so going from A$30 to A$3 per million tokens counts the same as A$3 to A$0.30. A model is marked “frontier” when no tracked model is both smarter and cheaper. Each input is rescaled 0–100 across the models we track, then weighted: AA Intelligence Index 60% and Blended price (AUD) 40%.
Ratings: LMArena leaderboard dataset (CC BY 4.0), rescaled for the lens scores · leaderboards to 22 Sep 2026
Evaluations, prices and speed: Artificial Analysis (artificialanalysis.ai) · fetched 23 Sep 2026
Exchange rate: Reserve Bank of Australia, table F11.1 · A$1 = US$0.7123 on 22 Sep 2026 · prices exclude GST
Snapshot 23 Sep 2026 · updated weekly · How the rankings work →