# Best model for writing articles

As of 18 September 2026, the model ranking first for this question is Claude Opus 4.7 on Anthropic, with intelligence index 55.0 and an output price of $25.00 per million tokens. Ranked by highest intelligence index, then lowest output price at equal index, across 117 models for which we hold both figures. This ranking ignores speed and reliability: it is a query on price and a relayed capability score, not a verdict on which model serves you best.

Criterion: highest intelligence index, then lowest output price at equal index.
Long-form writing is a general reasoning task, so the ranking uses the general intelligence index. Price breaks ties, because two models that score the same are not worth the same.

117 models meet this criterion; 40 are listed below.
Scores come from Artificial Analysis, relayed by the catalogue we read, and are not our own measurement. Prices are ours, each carrying the day we observed it. Full provenance per value: https://bertrande.com/en/best/writing/answer.json

| # | Model | Seller | Intelligence index | Output $/1M | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claude Opus 4.7 | Anthropic (first party) | 55.0 | $25.00 | 2026-09-18T01:22:49Z |
| 2 | Qwen/Qwen3.8-Max | DeepInfra | 53.4 | $4.951 | 2026-09-15T10:09:40Z |
| 3 | Claude Fable 5.1 | Anthropic (first party) | 53.4 | $50.00 | 2026-09-18T01:22:49Z |
| 4 | OpenAI: GPT-5.4 | OpenRouter | 53.1 | $15.00 | 2026-09-18T04:16:25Z |
| 5 | gpt-6-astra | OpenAI (first party) | 52.8 | $50.00 | 2026-09-18T02:26:30Z |
| 6 | Claude Opus 5 | Anthropic (first party) | 50.7 | $25.00 | 2026-09-18T01:22:49Z |
| 7 | Claude Fable 5 | Anthropic (first party) | 49.7 | $50.00 | 2026-09-18T01:22:49Z |
| 8 | gpt-5.6-sol | OpenAI (first party) | 47.1 | $20.00 | 2026-09-18T02:26:30Z |
| 9 | Qwen: Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | OpenRouter | 45.4 | $6.00 | 2026-09-16T04:11:05Z |
| 10 | GLM-5.3 | Z.ai (first party) | 44.9 | $4.40 | 2026-09-18T02:52:21Z |
| 11 | grok-4.6 | xAI (first party) | 44.4 | $6.00 | 2026-09-18T02:46:01Z |
| 12 | kimi-k3 | Moonshot AI (first party) | 43.8 | $15.00 | 2026-09-18T02:12:37Z |
| 13 | gpt-5.6-terra | OpenAI (first party) | 42.3 | $12.00 | 2026-09-18T02:26:30Z |
| 14 | Claude Opus 4.8 | Anthropic (first party) | 42.0 | $25.00 | 2026-09-18T01:22:49Z |
| 15 | GLM-5.3-Flash | Z.ai (first party) | 41.9 | $0.500 | 2026-09-18T02:52:21Z |
| 16 | Nex AGI: Nex-N2-Pro | OpenRouter | 41.7 | $1.00 | 2026-09-08T02:26:18Z |
| 17 | Upstage: Solar Pro 4 | OpenRouter | 41.6 | $0.360 | 2026-09-18T16:15:59Z |
| 18 | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Google (first party) | 41.2 | $3.75 | 2026-09-18T01:49:01Z |
| 19 | grok-build-0.1 | xAI (first party) | 40.7 | $2.00 | 2026-09-18T02:46:01Z |
| 20 | Qwen: Qwen3.6 Plus | OpenRouter | 40.5 | $1.95 | 2026-09-18T04:16:25Z |
| 21 | Qwen/Qwen3.8-2.4T-A95B | DeepInfra | 40.0 | $6.00 | 2026-09-18T02:52:21Z |
| 22 | Meta: Muse Spark 1.2 | OpenRouter | 39.8 | $4.25 | 2026-09-18T04:16:25Z |
| 23 | deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash | DeepInfra | 39.5 | $0.600 | 2026-09-18T04:10:06Z |
| 24 | Gemini 3.7 Flash | Google (first party) | 39.4 | $3.75 | 2026-09-18T01:49:01Z |
| 25 | grok-4.5 | xAI (first party) | 39.1 | $6.00 | 2026-09-18T02:46:01Z |
| 26 | OpenAI: GPT-5.5 | OpenRouter | 38.6 | $30.00 | 2026-09-18T04:16:25Z |
| 27 | Claude Sonnet 5 | Anthropic (first party) | 38.4 | $10.00 | 2026-09-18T01:22:49Z |
| 28 | gpt-5.6-luna | OpenAI (first party) | 37.5 | $1.20 | 2026-09-18T02:26:30Z |
| 29 | gpt-5.1 | OpenAI (first party) | 37.5 | $10.00 | 2026-09-18T02:26:30Z |
| 30 | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 | OpenRouter | 36.3 | $1.73448 | 2026-09-18T16:15:59Z |
| 31 | kimi-k2.5 | Moonshot AI (first party) | 36.0 | $3.00 | 2026-09-18T02:12:37Z |
| 32 | gpt-5 | OpenAI (first party) | 35.3 | $10.00 | 2026-09-18T02:26:30Z |
| 33 | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 | OpenRouter | 34.5 | $0.120 | 2026-09-18T04:16:25Z |
| 34 | GLM-4.7 | Z.ai (first party) | 34.5 | $2.20 | 2026-09-11T09:58:17Z |
| 35 | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Google (first party) | 34.3 | $3.75 | 2026-09-18T01:49:01Z |
| 36 | Meta: Muse Spark 1.1 | OpenRouter | 34.3 | $4.25 | 2026-09-18T04:16:25Z |
| 37 | GLM-5.2 | Z.ai (first party) | 34.0 | $4.40 | 2026-09-18T02:52:21Z |
| 38 | Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B | Cerebras (first party) | 33.9 | $1.49 | 2026-09-18T02:52:21Z |
| 39 | Kwaipilot: KAT-Coder-Pro V2 | OpenRouter | 33.7 | $1.20 | 2026-09-18T04:16:25Z |
| 40 | Gemini 3.5 Flash | Google (first party) | 33.0 | $9.00 | 2026-09-18T01:49:01Z |

Source: https://bertrande.com/en/best/writing/
License: CC-BY-4.0, reuse with attribution.