Best LLM for Creative Writing: AI Writing Leaderboard
The writing board covers five writing-related categories of the LMArena text leaderboard, one per tab: creative writing (creative_writing, default), writing/literature/language tasks, longer prompts (longer_query; not a long-context test), multi-turn (multi_turn) and instruction following (instruction_following). Scores come from blind human pairwise votes, not automated benchmarks.
- Claude vs GeminiClaude Opus 5.5 (High)1534.2 vs 1523.1 · Δ11vs Gemini 4 Argon (High)
- Cheapest in top 20
MiMo-V2.6-Pro$0.544 / 1MScore 1466.4 · #20 - Best score per $ in top 20MiMo-V2.6-Pro2,697 / $Score 1466.4 · $0.544
Bottom line (Oct 22, 2026 data): the best LLM for writing is Claude Opus 5.5 (High) (1534.2). Claude Opus 5.5 (High) (1534.2) leads Gemini 4 Argon (High) (1523.1) by 11 points, but Gemini's output price is 50% of Claude's. Best value: MiMo-V2.6-Pro (highest score per dollar, $0.544/1M tokens blended).
Claude vs Gemini: which is better for writing?
| Model | Score | Rank | Writing & literature | Input / output | Score per $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 5.5 (High)Top Claude | 1534.2±13.6 | 1 | 1532.1 #1 | $4 / $20 | 192 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 (xHigh)Cheapest Claude in top 20 | 1468.3±14.1 | 18 | 1475.7 #18 | $2 / $10 | 367 |
 Gemini 4 Argon (High)Top Gemini | 1523.1±13.4 | 2 | 1524.4 #2 | $2 / $10 | 381 |
| Gemini 3.7 Flash (High)Cheapest Gemini in top 20 | 1489.1±8.4 | 9 | 1491.5 #12 | $0.75 / $3.75 | 993 |
When the gap is smaller than the combined confidence intervals, the rank difference may not be significant. Prices are OpenRouter quotes (USD / 1M tokens).
Full ranking · Creative writing
67 modelsSorted by LMArena score; ± is the 95% CI half-width. Prices: OpenRouter quote (official list price if none), USD per 1M tokens.
| # | Model | Score↓ | Rank | Votes | Writing & literature | Input / output | Blended | Score per $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claude Opus 5.5 (High)Anthropic |
1534.2±13.6 | 1 | 2,453 | 1532.1 | $4 / $20 | $8 | 192 |
| 2 | Gemini 4 Argon (High)Google |
1523.1±13.4 | 2 | 2,335 | 1524.4 | $2 / $10 | $4 | 381 |
| 3 | Claude Fable 5.1 (Max)Anthropic |
1509.7±10.9 | 3 | 3,729 | 1511.9 | $10 / $50 | $20 | 76 |
| 4 | Claude Opus 4.6 (High)Anthropic |
1504.8±6.1 | 4 | 15,413 | 1501.7 | $5 / $25 | $10 | 151 |
| 5 | Claude Opus 5 (Max)Anthropic |
1494.6±8 | 5 | 7,903 | 1499.3 | $5 / $25 | $10 | 150 |
| 6 | Claude Fable 5 (High)Anthropic |
1493.4±7.2 | 6 | 9,586 | 1501.1 | $10 / $50 | $20 | 75 |
| 7 |  Muse Wonder (Max)Meta |
1492.6±17 | 7 | 1,350 | 1497.2 | $4 / $20 | $8 | 187 |
| 8 | Gemini 3.8 Flash (High)Google |
1489.4±7.4 | 8 | 9,817 | 1494 | $0.825 / $4.125 | $1.65 | 903 |
| 9 | Gemini 3.7 Flash (High)Google |
1489.1±8.4 | 9 | 6,770 | 1491.5 | $0.75 / $3.75 | $1.5 | 993 |
| 10 | Claude Opus 4.7 (High)Anthropic |
1486.2±6.9 | 11 | 11,804 | 1492.5 | $5 / $25 | $10 | 149 |
| 11 | Gemini 3 ProGoogle |
1482.5±8.1 | 13 | 6,542 | 1478.1 | $2 / $12 | $4.5 | 329 |
| 12 | Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewGoogle |
1481.8±5.2 | 14 | 24,371 | 1480.9 | $2 / $12 | $4.5 | 329 |
| 13 |  Qwen3.8-MaxAlibaba |
1477.4±8.5 | 16 | 6,134 | 1476.8 | $2 / $6 | $3 | 493 |
| 14 | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (xHigh)Anthropic |
1468.3±14.1 | 18 | 2,058 | 1475.7 | $2 / $10 | $4 | 367 |
| 15 | Gemini 3.5 Flash (High)Google |
1467.6±7.2 | 19 | 9,477 | 1477.4 | $1.5 / $9 | $3.375 | 435 |
| 16 | MiMo-V2.6-ProXiaomi |
1466.4±21.1 | 20 | 792 | 1469.7 | $0.435 / $0.87 | $0.544 | 2,697 |
| 17 | Gemini 3.6 Flash (High)Google |
1466.1±7.9 | 21 | 7,584 | 1469.9 | $0.75 / $3.75 | $1.5 | 977 |
| 18 | Muse Spark 1.3 (Max)Meta |
1462.4±9.8 | 23 | 4,562 | 1470.3 | $1.25 / $4.25 | $2 | 731 |
| 19 |  GLM-5.2 (Max)Z.ai |
1461.6±6.9 | 24 | 10,456 | 1462.6 | $0.034 / $7 | $1.776 | 823 |
| 20 | GLM-5.3 (Max)Z.ai |
1459.2±8.8 | 25 | 5,741 | 1469 | $0.07 / $1.4 | $0.402 | 3,626 |
| 21 | Gemini 3 FlashGoogle |
1456.8±9.2 | 27 | 4,833 | 1459.1 | $0.5 / $3 | $1.125 | 1,295 |
| 22 |  Kimi K3 (Max)Moonshot AI |
1456.2±7.9 | 28 | 7,248 | 1469.9 | $0.202 / $20 | $5.152 | 283 |
| 23 |  GPT-5.5 (High)OpenAI |
1455.3±6.5 | 29 | 13,161 | 1466.3 | $5 / $30 | $11.25 | 129 |
| 24 | Claude Opus 4.8 (High)Anthropic |
1454.4±6.5 | 30 | 12,810 | 1461.5 | $5 / $25 | $10 | 145 |
| 25 | Gemini 2.5 ProGoogle |
1453.7±5.1 | 31 | 17,700 | 1453.9 | $1.25 / $10 | $3.438 | 423 |
| 26 | GLM-5.1Z.ai |
1452.6±6.3 | 32 | 12,807 | 1454.6 | $1.4 / $4.4 | $2.15 | 676 |
| 27 | GPT-5.6 Sol (xHigh)OpenAI |
1450.2±7.4 | 34 | 8,988 | 1462.8 | $4 / $20 | $8 | 181 |
| 28 | Qwen3.7-Max-PreviewAlibaba |
1447.7±26.6 | 35 | 511 | 1461.6 | $1.475 / $4.425 | $2.213 | 654 |
| 29 |  DeepSeek-V4-ProDeepSeek |
1446.2±7.2 | 37 | 9,731 | 1447.1 | $0.435 / $0.87 | $0.544 | 2,659 |
| 30 | Claude Opus 4.5 (20251101)Anthropic |
1443±6.3 | 39 | 11,407 | 1451.6 | $5 / $25 | $10 | 144 |
| 31 |  Grok 4.5xAI |
1441.8±7.6 | 40 | 8,288 | 1444.9 | $2 / $6 | $3 | 481 |
| 32 | GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai |
1440.8±7.7 | 44 | 8,207 | 1455.1 | $0.15 / $0.5 | $0.238 | 6,067 |
| 33 | GPT-5.4 (High)OpenAI |
1439±6.9 | 45 | 11,126 | 1458.4 | $2.5 / $15 | $5.625 | 256 |
| 34 | DeepSeek-V4-Pro (High, 20260813)DeepSeek |
1438.6±13.8 | 46 | 1,996 | 1442.7 | $0.955 / $1.911 | $1.194 | 1,205 |
| 35 | DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-20260910 (Max)DeepSeek |
1438.5±11.8 | 47 | 2,830 | 1450.9 | $0.02 / $1 | $0.265 | 5,428 |
| 36 | Qwen3.7-PlusAlibaba |
1438±7.6 | 49 | 7,839 | 1437.6 | $0.32 / $1.28 | $0.56 | 2,568 |
| 37 | MiMo-V2.5-ProXiaomi |
1438±6.1 | 50 | 14,635 | 1451 | $0.305 / $0.609 | $0.381 | 3,778 |
| 38 | GLM-5Z.ai |
1437.9±8.9 | 51 | 4,859 | 1436.4 | $1 / $3.2 | $1.55 | 928 |
| 39 | Claude Sonnet 4.6Anthropic |
1435.4±6.5 | 53 | 12,386 | 1443.9 | $3 / $15 | $6 | 239 |
| 40 | Muse Spark 1.2 (xHigh)Meta |
1434.7±13.5 | 56 | 2,219 | 1453.8 | $1.25 / $4.25 | $2 | 717 |
| 41 | Muse Spark 1.1Meta |
1434.6±7.1 | 57 | 9,741 | 1447.2 | $1.25 / $4.25 | $2 | 717 |
| 42 | Kimi K2.6Moonshot AI |
1433.6±8.2 | 58 | 6,329 | 1439 | $0.65 / $3.41 | $1.34 | 1,070 |
| 43 | Grok 4.6 (High)xAI |
1427.9±8.1 | 60 | 7,194 | 1431.2 | $2 / $6 | $3 | 476 |
| 44 | GPT-5.1 (High)OpenAI |
1427.1±8 | 62 | 6,243 | 1427.8 | $1.25 / $10 | $3.438 | 415 |
| 45 | GPT-6.1 Sol (Max)OpenAI |
1424.4±14.8 | 65 | 1,871 | 1442.4 | $2 / $10 | $4 | 356 |
| 46 | Kimi K2.5 (Thinking)Moonshot AI |
1422.1±6.2 | 67 | 12,271 | 1425.2 | $0.5 / $2.5 | $1 | 1,422 |
| 47 | GPT-6 Astra (Max)OpenAI |
1420.5±11.5 | 69 | 3,150 | 1439.6 | $10 / $50 | $20 | 71 |
| 48 | Claude Sonnet 5 (High)Anthropic |
1416±6.9 | 73 | 10,786 | 1435.9 | $2 / $10 | $4 | 354 |
| 49 | GPT-5.6 Terra (xHigh)OpenAI |
1413±7.1 | 77 | 9,947 | 1431.8 | $2 / $12 | $4.5 | 314 |
| 50 | GLM-4.6Z.ai |
1411.7±8.5 | 79 | 5,149 | 1415.7 | $0.55 / $2.2 | $0.963 | 1,467 |
| 51 |  Step 5 PreviewStepFun |
1411.4±13.8 | 80 | 2,061 | 1429.4 | $1 / $2.7 | $1.425 | 991 |
| 52 |  Hy3Tencent |
1404.8±12 | 86 | 2,655 | 1415.2 | $0.132 / $0.528 | $0.231 | 6,081 |
| 53 | MiMo-V2.6-FlashXiaomi |
1404.3±12.2 | 87 | 2,741 | 1424.6 | $0.14 / $0.28 | $0.175 | 8,025 |
| 54 | DeepSeek-V4-FlashDeepSeek |
1402.9±7.5 | 93 | 8,579 | 1409.9 | $0.091 / $0.182 | $0.114 | 12,328 |
| 55 |  MiniMax-M3MiniMax |
1402.7±6.4 | 94 | 12,398 | 1417.7 | $0.3 / $1.2 | $0.525 | 2,672 |
| 56 | GPT-5.2 Chat (20260210)OpenAI |
1401±8.4 | 100 | 5,637 | 1422 | $1.75 / $14 | $4.813 | 291 |
| 57 | DeepSeek-V3.2DeepSeek |
1399.4±7.5 | 103 | 6,884 | 1406.9 | $0.28 / $0.42 | $0.315 | 4,443 |
| 58 | GPT-5.6 Luna (xHigh)OpenAI |
1395.9±7.5 | 107 | 8,692 | 1418.9 | $0.2 / $1.2 | $0.45 | 3,102 |
| 59 | MiMo-V2.5Xiaomi |
1392.5±7.7 | 112 | 7,903 | 1409.1 | $0.119 / $0.238 | $0.149 | 9,358 |
| 60 | Qwen3.8-27BAlibaba |
1382.9±9 | 128 | 5,342 | 1405.3 | $0.2 / $2.5 | $0.775 | 1,784 |
| 61 | Grok 4.7 (xHigh)xAI |
1381.2±11.3 | 130 | 3,337 | 1393.8 | $2 / $6 | $3 | 460 |
| 62 | GPT-6 Sol (Max)OpenAI |
1377.4±11.6 | 134 | 3,130 | 1388.8 | $2 / $10 | $4 | 344 |
| 63 | GPT-5.2 (High)OpenAI |
1376.1±7.3 | 136 | 7,662 | 1392 | $1.75 / $14 | $4.813 | 286 |
| 64 |  Mistral Medium 3.5Mistral AI |
1373.9±13.6 | 141 | 2,073 | 1383.9 | $1.5 / $7.5 | $3 | 458 |
| 65 | Mistral Large 4Mistral AI |
1363.8±12.9 | 152 | 2,383 | 1387.4 | $1.36 / $4.18 | $2.065 | 660 |
| 66 | GPT-6 Luna (Max)OpenAI |
1362.7±6.4 | 154 | 16,380 | 1382.8 | $0.1 / $0.5 | $0.2 | 6,814 |
| 67 | Claude Haiku 5.5 (High)Anthropic |
1335.6±16.6 | 185 | 1,437 | 1370.1 | $0.1 / $0.5 | $0.2 | 6,678 |
Data: LMArena (lmarena-ai), CC-BY-4.0 · Creative writing · published Oct 22, 2026
Sources & method
- LMLMArena leaderboard dataset (Hugging Face, CC-BY-4.0)
config text · creative_writing · published Oct 22, 2026 · 416 models
- LMLMArena leaderboard dataset (Hugging Face, CC-BY-4.0)
config text · industry_writing_and_literature_and_language · published Oct 22, 2026 · 417 models
- LMLMArena leaderboard dataset (Hugging Face, CC-BY-4.0)
config text · longer_query · published Oct 22, 2026 · 396 models
- LMLMArena leaderboard dataset (Hugging Face, CC-BY-4.0)
config text · multi_turn · published Oct 22, 2026 · 416 models
- LMLMArena leaderboard dataset (Hugging Face, CC-BY-4.0)
config text · instruction_following · published Oct 22, 2026 · 418 models
- $
- Only the latest LMArena publish date is used; score, CI, votes and rank are copied from the dataset.
- Reasoning tiers of one model (e.g. High / Max) are separate LMArena entries and are listed separately.
- Prices are shown only when the entry maps to our LLM leaderboard; otherwise –, never estimated.
- Score ÷ blended price (3:1 input:output). A rough value indicator only.
- Synced daily at 06:35 UTC; if the source fails, the last good snapshot is kept.
FAQ
What is the best AI for writing?
In LMArena's creative writing category published Oct 22, 2026, #1 is Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 (High) (1534.2, 2,453 votes).
Claude or Gemini: which is better for writing?
Top creative-writing scores: Claude Claude Opus 5.5 (High) (1534.2, output $20/1M tokens); Gemini Gemini 4 Argon (High) (1523.1, output $10/1M tokens).
What is the cheapest good LLM for writing?
Among the top 20 for creative writing, the best score per dollar is MiMo-V2.6-Pro (1466.4, #20) at about $0.544/1M tokens blended; the cheapest is MiMo-V2.6-Pro ($0.544/1M, 1466.4).
Which vendors rank highest for writing?
By the creative writing category, each vendor's best model ranks: Anthropic Claude Opus 5.5 (High) (1534.2, #1), Google Gemini 4 Argon (High) (1523.1, #2), Meta Muse Wonder (Max) (1492.6, #7), Alibaba Qwen3.8-Max (1477.4, #16), Xiaomi MiMo-V2.6-Pro (1466.4, #20).
Where do the scores come from?
From LMArena: users submit writing prompts, two anonymous models answer, users vote for the better one, and scores are fitted with a Bradley-Terry model.