List of the Top Foundation Models for Claude Code in 2026 - Page 2

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the latest evolution in Anthropic’s Sonnet model family, offering major advancements in coding, reasoning, computer interaction, and knowledge-intensive workflows. Designed as a full upgrade rather than an incremental update, it improves consistency, instruction following, and multi-step task completion across a broad range of professional applications. The model introduces a 1 million token context window in beta, enabling users to analyze entire codebases, long contracts, research archives, or complex planning documents in one cohesive session. Developers with early access reported a strong preference for Sonnet 4.6 over Sonnet 4.5 and even favored it over Opus 4.5 in many real-world coding tasks. Users highlighted its reduced overengineering tendencies, improved follow-through, and lower incidence of hallucinations during extended sessions. A major enhancement is its improved computer-use capability, allowing it to operate traditional software environments by interacting with graphical interfaces much like a human user. On benchmarks such as OSWorld, Sonnet models have shown steady gains in handling browser navigation, spreadsheets, and development tools. The model also demonstrates strategic reasoning improvements in long-horizon simulations, such as Vending-Bench Arena, where it optimizes early investments before pivoting toward profitability. On the Claude Developer Platform, Sonnet 4.6 supports adaptive thinking, extended thinking, and context compaction to maximize usable context length. API enhancements now include automated search filtering, code execution, memory, and advanced tool use capabilities for higher-quality outputs. Pricing remains consistent with Sonnet 4.5, making Opus-level performance more accessible to a broader user base. Available across Claude.ai, Cowork, Claude Code, the API, and major cloud platforms, Sonnet 4.6 becomes the new default model for Free and Pro users.

GLM-5 is Z.ai’s most advanced open-source model to date, purpose-built for complex systems engineering, long-horizon planning, and autonomous agent workflows. Building on the foundation of GLM-4.5, it dramatically scales both total parameters and pre-training data while increasing active parameter efficiency. The integration of DeepSeek Sparse Attention allows GLM-5 to maintain strong long-context reasoning capabilities while reducing deployment costs. To improve post-training performance, Z.ai developed slime, an asynchronous reinforcement learning infrastructure that significantly boosts training throughput and iteration speed. As a result, GLM-5 achieves top-tier performance among open-source models across reasoning, coding, and general agent benchmarks. It demonstrates exceptional strength in long-term operational simulations, including leading results on Vending Bench 2, where it manages a year-long simulated business with strong financial outcomes. In coding evaluations such as SWE-bench and Terminal-Bench 2.0, GLM-5 delivers competitive results that narrow the gap with proprietary frontier systems. The model is fully open-sourced under the MIT License and available through Hugging Face, ModelScope, and Z.ai’s developer platforms. Developers can deploy GLM-5 locally using inference frameworks like vLLM and SGLang, including support for non-NVIDIA hardware through optimization and quantization techniques. Through Z.ai, users can access both Chat Mode for fast interactions and Agent Mode for tool-augmented, multi-step task execution. GLM-5 also enables structured document generation, producing ready-to-use .docx, .pdf, and .xlsx files for business and academic workflows. With compatibility across coding agents and cross-application automation frameworks, GLM-5 moves foundation models from conversational assistants toward full-scale work engines.

GLM-5.1 marks the newest evolution in Z.ai’s GLM lineup, designed as a state-of-the-art AI model focused on agents, specifically for tasks involving coding, logical reasoning, and overseeing long-term processes. This version builds on the foundation set by GLM-5, which utilizes a Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) framework to maximize performance while keeping inference costs low, supporting a broader vision of making weight models available to developers. A key feature of GLM-5.1 is its ability to promote agentic behavior, enabling it to plan, execute, and enhance multi-step tasks rather than just responding to single prompts. The model is meticulously crafted to handle complex workflows, such as troubleshooting code, navigating repositories, and conducting sequential tasks, all while preserving context over extended periods. Compared to earlier models, GLM-5.1 provides improved reliability during prolonged interactions, ensuring consistency throughout longer sessions and reducing errors in multi-step reasoning tasks. Furthermore, this advancement represents a significant step forward in the realm of AI, especially in its proficiency for managing intricate task workflows with ease. With its innovative features, GLM-5.1 sets a new standard for what agent-focused AI can achieve in practical applications.

Kimi K2.6 is a cutting-edge agentic AI model developed by Moonshot AI, designed to improve practical application, programming efficiency, and complex reasoning abilities beyond its forerunners, K2 and K2.5. Utilizing a Mixture-of-Experts framework, this model embodies the multimodal, agent-centric principles of the Kimi series, seamlessly combining language understanding, coding skills, and tool application into a unified system capable of planning and executing sophisticated workflows. It boasts advanced reasoning capabilities and superior agent planning, allowing it to break down tasks, coordinate multiple tools, and address challenges involving numerous files or steps with heightened accuracy and efficiency. Furthermore, it excels in tool-calling functions, ensuring a reliable connection with external platforms like web searches or APIs, while incorporating built-in validation systems to confirm the correctness of execution formats. Significantly, Kimi K2.6 marks a transformative advancement in the AI landscape, establishing new benchmarks for the intricacy and dependability of automated processes, and paving the way for future innovations in the field.

GLM-4.6 builds on the groundwork established by its predecessor, offering improved reasoning, coding, and agent functionalities that lead to significant improvements in inferential precision, better tool application during reasoning exercises, and a smoother incorporation into agent architectures. In extensive benchmark assessments evaluating reasoning, coding, and agent performance, GLM-4.6 outperforms GLM-4.5 and holds its own against competitive models such as DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp and Claude Sonnet 4, though it still trails Claude Sonnet 4.5 regarding coding proficiency. Additionally, when evaluated through practical testing using a comprehensive “CC-Bench” suite, which encompasses tasks related to front-end development, tool creation, data analysis, and algorithmic challenges, GLM-4.6 shows superior performance compared to GLM-4.5, achieving a nearly equal standing with Claude Sonnet 4, winning around 48.6% of direct matchups while exhibiting an approximate 15% boost in token efficiency. This newest iteration is available via the Z.ai API, allowing developers to utilize it either as a backend for an LLM or as the fundamental component in an agent within the platform's API ecosystem. Moreover, the enhancements in GLM-4.6 promise to significantly elevate productivity across diverse application areas, making it a compelling choice for developers eager to adopt the latest advancements in AI technology. Consequently, the model's versatility and performance improvements position it as a key player in the ongoing evolution of AI-driven solutions.

MiniMax M2 represents a revolutionary open-source foundational model specifically designed for agent-driven applications and coding endeavors, striking a remarkable balance between efficiency, speed, and cost-effectiveness. It excels within comprehensive development ecosystems, skillfully handling programming assignments, utilizing various tools, and executing complex multi-step operations, all while seamlessly integrating with Python and delivering impressive inference speeds estimated at around 100 tokens per second, coupled with competitive API pricing at roughly 8% of comparable proprietary models. Additionally, the model features a "Lightning Mode" for rapid and efficient agent actions and a "Pro Mode" tailored for in-depth full-stack development, report generation, and management of web-based tools; its completely open-source weights facilitate local deployment through vLLM or SGLang. What sets MiniMax M2 apart is its readiness for production environments, enabling agents to independently carry out tasks such as data analysis, software development, tool integration, and executing complex multi-step logic in real-world organizational settings. Furthermore, with its cutting-edge capabilities, this model is positioned to transform how developers tackle intricate programming challenges and enhances productivity across various domains.

The GLM-4.6V is a sophisticated, open-source multimodal vision-language model that is part of the Z.ai (GLM-V) series, specifically designed for tasks that involve reasoning, perception, and actionable outcomes. It comes in two distinct configurations: a full-featured version boasting 106 billion parameters, ideal for cloud-based systems or high-performance computing setups, and a more efficient “Flash” version with 9 billion parameters, optimized for local use or scenarios that demand minimal latency. With an impressive native context window capable of handling up to 128,000 tokens during its training, GLM-4.6V excels in managing large documents and various multimodal data inputs. A key highlight of this model is its integrated Function Calling feature, which allows it to directly accept different types of visual media, including images, screenshots, and documents, without the need for manual text conversion. This capability not only streamlines the reasoning process regarding visual content but also empowers the model to make tool calls, effectively bridging visual perception with practical applications. The adaptability of GLM-4.6V paves the way for numerous applications, such as generating combined image-and-text content that enhances document understanding with text summarization or crafting responses that incorporate image annotations, significantly improving user engagement and output quality. Moreover, its architecture encourages exploration into innovative uses across diverse fields, making it a valuable asset in the realm of AI.

GLM-4.1V represents a cutting-edge vision-language model that provides a powerful and efficient multimodal ability for interpreting and reasoning through different types of media, such as images, text, and documents. The 9-billion-parameter variant, referred to as GLM-4.1V-9B-Thinking, is built on the GLM-4-9B foundation and has been refined using a distinctive training method called Reinforcement Learning with Curriculum Sampling (RLCS). With a context window that accommodates 64k tokens, this model can handle high-resolution inputs, supporting images with a resolution of up to 4K and any aspect ratio, enabling it to perform complex tasks like optical character recognition, image captioning, chart and document parsing, video analysis, scene understanding, and GUI-agent workflows, which include interpreting screenshots and identifying UI components. In benchmark evaluations at the 10 B-parameter scale, GLM-4.1V-9B-Thinking achieved remarkable results, securing the top performance in 23 of the 28 tasks assessed. These advancements mark a significant progression in the fusion of visual and textual information, establishing a new benchmark for multimodal models across a variety of applications, and indicating the potential for future innovations in this field. This model not only enhances existing workflows but also opens up new possibilities for applications in diverse domains.

GLM-4.5V-Flash is an open-source vision-language model designed to seamlessly integrate powerful multimodal capabilities into a streamlined and deployable format. This versatile model supports a variety of input types including images, videos, documents, and graphical user interfaces, enabling it to perform numerous functions such as scene comprehension, chart and document analysis, screen reading, and image evaluation. Unlike larger models, GLM-4.5V-Flash boasts a smaller size yet retains crucial features typical of visual language models, including visual reasoning, video analysis, GUI task management, and intricate document parsing. Its application within "GUI agent" frameworks allows the model to analyze screenshots or desktop captures, recognize icons or UI elements, and facilitate both automated desktop and web activities. Although it may not reach the performance levels of the most extensive models, GLM-4.5V-Flash offers remarkable adaptability for real-world multimodal tasks where efficiency, lower resource demands, and broad modality support are vital. Ultimately, its innovative design empowers users to leverage sophisticated capabilities while ensuring optimal speed and easy access for various applications. This combination makes it an appealing choice for developers seeking to implement multimodal solutions without the overhead of larger systems.

The GLM-4.5V model emerges as a significant advancement over its predecessor, the GLM-4.5-Air, featuring a sophisticated Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture that includes an impressive total of 106 billion parameters, with 12 billion allocated specifically for activation purposes. This model is distinguished by its superior performance among open-source vision-language models (VLMs) of similar scale, excelling in 42 public benchmarks across a wide range of applications, including images, videos, documents, and GUI interactions. It offers a comprehensive suite of multimodal capabilities, tackling image reasoning tasks like scene understanding, spatial recognition, and multi-image analysis, while also addressing video comprehension challenges such as segmentation and event recognition. In addition, it demonstrates remarkable proficiency in deciphering intricate charts and lengthy documents, which supports GUI-agent workflows through functionalities like screen reading and desktop automation, along with providing precise visual grounding by identifying objects and creating bounding boxes. The introduction of a unique "Thinking Mode" switch further enhances the user experience, enabling users to choose between quick responses or more deliberate reasoning tailored to specific situations. This innovative addition not only underscores the versatility of GLM-4.5V but also highlights its adaptability to meet diverse user requirements, making it a powerful tool in the realm of multimodal AI solutions. Furthermore, the model’s ability to seamlessly integrate into various applications signifies its potential for widespread adoption in both research and practical environments.

MiMo-V2-Flash is an advanced language model developed by Xiaomi that employs a Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture, achieving a remarkable synergy between high performance and efficient inference. With an extensive 309 billion parameters, it activates only 15 billion during each inference, striking a balance between reasoning capabilities and computational efficiency. This model excels at processing lengthy contexts, making it particularly effective for tasks like long-document analysis, code generation, and complex workflows. Its unique hybrid attention mechanism combines sliding-window and global attention layers, which reduces memory usage while maintaining the capacity to grasp long-range dependencies. Moreover, the Multi-Token Prediction (MTP) feature significantly boosts inference speed by allowing multiple tokens to be processed in parallel. With the ability to generate around 150 tokens per second, MiMo-V2-Flash is specifically designed for scenarios requiring ongoing reasoning and multi-turn exchanges. The cutting-edge architecture of this model marks a noteworthy leap forward in language processing technology, demonstrating its potential applications across various domains. As such, it stands out as a formidable tool for developers and researchers alike.

Claude Opus 4.1 marks a significant iterative improvement over its earlier version, Claude Opus 4, with a focus on enhancing capabilities in coding, agentic reasoning, and data analysis while keeping deployment straightforward. This latest iteration achieves a remarkable coding accuracy of 74.5 percent on the SWE-bench Verified, alongside improved research depth and detailed tracking for agentic search operations. Additionally, GitHub has noted substantial progress in multi-file code refactoring, while Rakuten Group highlights its proficiency in pinpointing precise corrections in large codebases without introducing errors. Independent evaluations show that the performance of junior developers has seen an increase of about one standard deviation relative to Opus 4, indicating meaningful advancements that align with the trajectory of past Claude releases.

Claude Opus 4.5 represents a major leap in Anthropic’s model development, delivering breakthrough performance across coding, research, mathematics, reasoning, and agentic tasks. The model consistently surpasses competitors on SWE-bench Verified, SWE-bench Multilingual, Aider Polyglot, BrowseComp-Plus, and other cutting-edge evaluations, demonstrating mastery across multiple programming languages and multi-turn, real-world workflows. Early users were struck by its ability to handle subtle trade-offs, interpret ambiguous instructions, and produce creative solutions—such as navigating airline booking rules by reasoning through policy loopholes. Alongside capability gains, Opus 4.5 is Anthropic’s safest and most robustly aligned model, showing industry-leading resistance to strong prompt-injection attacks and lower rates of concerning behavior. Developers benefit from major upgrades to the Claude API, including effort controls that balance speed versus capability, improved context efficiency, and longer-running agentic processes with richer memory. The platform also strengthens multi-agent coordination, enabling Opus 4.5 to manage subagents for complex, multi-step research and engineering tasks. Claude Code receives new enhancements like Plan Mode improvements, parallel local and remote sessions, and better GitHub research automation. Consumer apps gain better context handling, expanded Chrome integration, and broader access to Claude for Excel. Enterprise and premium users see increased usage limits and more flexible access to Opus-level performance. Altogether, Claude Opus 4.5 showcases what the next generation of AI can accomplish—faster work, deeper reasoning, safer operation, and richer support for modern development and productivity workflows.

Claude Mythos Preview is a cutting-edge AI model that represents a significant breakthrough in cybersecurity capabilities and autonomous reasoning. It has shown the ability to independently discover and exploit zero-day vulnerabilities in a wide range of systems, including operating systems, browsers, and critical infrastructure software. The model can generate sophisticated exploit chains, combining multiple vulnerabilities to achieve outcomes such as remote code execution or full system control. It operates using agentic workflows, where it analyzes source code, tests hypotheses, and iteratively refines its findings without human guidance. Mythos Preview is also highly capable in reverse engineering, allowing it to analyze closed-source binaries and uncover hidden vulnerabilities. Compared to previous models, it demonstrates a substantial increase in both accuracy and success rate when developing real-world exploits. It can identify subtle and long-standing bugs that have gone unnoticed for years. The model is also effective at converting known vulnerabilities into working exploits rapidly, reducing the time between disclosure and potential attack. These capabilities highlight both the opportunities and risks associated with advanced AI in cybersecurity. As a result, efforts like Project Glasswing aim to use the model to strengthen global defenses. The model’s emergence signals a shift toward automated, large-scale vulnerability research. Overall, Claude Mythos Preview marks a transformative step in how AI can impact both offensive and defensive cybersecurity.

Claude Fable 5.5 is a possible future addition to Anthropic's premium Claude Fable model line, but Anthropic has not officially announced a model under that name as of September 30, 2026. The company's current model catalog identifies Claude Fable 5.1 as the latest Fable model, alongside the newer Claude Opus 5.5 and Claude Sonnet 5.5. Anthropic positions Fable 5.1 for demanding reasoning and long-horizon agentic work requiring its highest-end model capabilities. The model provides a 1-million-token context window and supports outputs of up to 128,000 tokens. Fable 5.1 uses adaptive thinking that is always enabled and defaults to a high effort setting for more intensive reasoning. It accepts text and images as input and generates text output, with Anthropic listing June 2026 as both its reliable knowledge cutoff and training-data cutoff. Fable 5.1 costs $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens, with cache reads priced at $0.25 per million tokens. It is officially supported through the Claude API, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud, Microsoft Foundry, and Claude Platform on AWS. Anthropic's September releases have expanded the Claude 5.5 generation with Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5, but its official model catalog has not similarly replaced Fable 5.1 with Fable 5.5. Anthropic's Trust Center likewise lists documentation for Claude Mythos 5.1 and Fable 5.1 as well as Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5, without documentation for a Fable 5.5 model. Consequently, claims about Claude Fable 5.5's performance, benchmarks, context limits, pricing, capabilities, or release date should be considered unconfirmed until Anthropic publishes official information.