{"id":"frontier-chat","slug":"frontier-chat","name":"Frontier general chat & reasoning","shortName":"Frontier general chat & reasoning","problemStatement":"Need the strongest general-purpose LLM API for product chat, planning, and hard reasoning.","whenNotTopPick":"Need best multimodal media APIs in one vendor (OpenAI/Google), or procurement forces Bedrock/Azure/Vertex.","categoryIds":["cat-inference-apis"],"depotPickProviderId":"anthropic","depotPickRationale":"Weighted capability + reliability + privacy. Anthropic Sonnet/Opus lead agentic reasoning; OpenAI closest peer; Gemini for value/multimodal.","runnersUpIds":["openai","google-ai","xai","minimax","dashscope","zai"],"weights":{"capabilityFit":0.2,"pricePerformance":0.12,"latencyReliability":0.12,"developerDx":0.12,"privacyPosture":0.25,"lockInRisk":0.09,"maturity":0.1},"methodologyNotes":"Weighted capability + reliability + privacy. Anthropic Sonnet/Opus lead agentic reasoning; OpenAI closest peer; Gemini for value/multimodal.","tags":["frontier"],"depth":{"whenNotToUse":{"text":"Need best multimodal media APIs in one vendor (OpenAI/Google), or procurement forces Bedrock/Azure/Vertex.","source":"editorial `whenNotTopPick` (data/jtbds.json)"},"whenNotToUseReason":null,"runnerUp":{"providerId":"openai","name":"OpenAI","overallForJob":8.04,"pickOverallForJob":8.41,"beatsPickOn":["latencyReliability","developerDx","maturity"],"source":"first resolvable entry of the job's editorially ranked `runnersUpIds`; scores are stored job-weighted scores"},"runnerUpReason":null,"lockIn":{"pickLockInRisk":6.5,"runnerUpLockInRisk":7.2,"scale":"0–10 stored curated estimate; higher = more lock-in (worse)","pickExitSignals":[],"runnerUpExitSignals":[],"pickNotes":[],"selfHostFallback":[],"migration":"The pick has lower stored lock-in risk than runner-up OpenAI (6.5 vs 7.2).","migrationReason":null,"derivedFrom":"stored lockInRisk scores, provider tags (oss, self-host, openai-compat, open-models), free rows that list this job, and verbatim provider notes. No migration guide was invented."}},"freshness":{"pick":{"score":{"asOf":"2026-10-19","ageDays":8,"stale":false,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"lastReviewed":{"asOf":"2026-10-19","ageDays":8,"stale":false,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"sourceCheck":{"checkedAt":"2026-10-27","sourceUrls":2,"sourcesReachable":2,"pricingRows":14,"pricingRowsReconfirmed":14,"note":"A source re-check confirms the page is reachable and, for pricing rows, that the stored amount and SKU name appear on it. It does not re-derive or change the score.","reason":null}}},"depotPick":{"id":"anthropic","slug":"anthropic","name":"Anthropic","tagline":"Depot default for serious coding and production agents. Prefer Sonnet for cost/quality; reserve Opus for hard…","overall":8.41},"runnersUp":[{"id":"openai","slug":"openai","name":"OpenAI","tagline":"Default when you want maximum capability and ecosystem glue. Multi-home critical paths behind OpenAI-compat…","overall":8.04},{"id":"google-ai","slug":"google-ai","name":"Google AI (Gemini)","tagline":"Best value frontier stack and multimodal king. Use Flash for high-volume agent loops; Pro when quality…","overall":8.22},{"id":"xai","slug":"xai","name":"xAI","tagline":"Durable public rate card — worth A/B vs OpenAI/Anthropic on general chat. X Search now bills per…","overall":7.4},{"id":"minimax","slug":"minimax","name":"MiniMax","tagline":"Primary indie-usable Chinese multimodal API alongside Moonshot. Prefer Anthropic/OpenAI for coding agents…","overall":7.43},{"id":"dashscope","slug":"dashscope","name":"Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (DashScope)","tagline":"Catalog dashscope for Alibaba Model Studio / DashScope international Qwen. Complements Moonshot/MiniMax/Z.AI…","overall":7.61},{"id":"zai","slug":"zai","name":"Z.AI (Zhipu GLM)","tagline":"International GLM via z.ai — catalog zai, not a second Zhipu mainland-only SKU. Strong cheap/coding runner…","overall":7.38}]}