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Opus 5 is currently #1 on Artificial Analysis Intelligence Leaderboard

Comparison of AI Models across Intelligence, Performance, and Price

artificialanalysis.ai

July 24, 2026

3 min read

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64/100

Summary

A comparison of AI models evaluates their intelligence, performance, and pricing, focusing on metrics such as output speed, latency, and context window. The analysis includes various evaluations such as agentic real-world tasks, tool use, coding capabilities, and reasoning across different domains.

Key Takeaways

Claude Opus 5 (Adaptive Reasoning, Max Effort) has the highest score on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index at 61 among 170 evaluated models.
Mercury 2 is the fastest AI model, achieving an output speed of 938.7 tokens per second.
Nova Micro is the most affordable model, priced at $0.03 per 1 million tokens.
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has the lowest time to first token at 0.35 seconds.

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Community Sentiment

Mixed

Positives

5.6 Sol being cheaper than top contenders while delivering impressive output has commenters buzzing about value in AI.
The excitement around Opus 5's #1 ranking shows a strong belief in its capabilities, despite concerns about censorship.

Concerns

Censorship issues are driving users away from Claude, with many feeling it's more about compliance than performance — reliability is key.
The cost-performance ratio raises eyebrows; models matching Opus 5's score at half the price have some questioning its true value.
Concerns about over-engineering and coding style differences suggest Opus 5 might not be the universal solution some hope it to be.