LLM landscape in 2026 has consolidated around four serious players (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta) plus Mistral as European alternative. Choose by use case + cost.
Quick Picks
- Best general reasoning→Claude Opus 4.7
- Best multimodal + voice→GPT-5
- Best for Google Cloud / RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)">RAG→Gemini 2.5 Pro
- Best open weights→Llama 4(Meta)
- Best EU / open source commercial→Mistral Large 2
Pricing (May 2026, per 1M tokens)
| Model | Input | Output | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-5 | $3.00 | $10.00 | 256K |
| Claude Opus 4.7 | $15.00 | $75.00 | 1M |
| Claude Sonnet 4.5 | $3.00 | $15.00 | 200K |
| Gemini 2.5 Pro | $1.25 | $5.00 | 2M |
| Llama 4 (open) | $0 (self-host) | $0 (self-host) | 256K |
| Mistral Large 2 | $2.00 | $6.00 | 128K |
Capability Strengths
OpenAI GPT-5 — Multimodal Leader
GPT-5 (May 2026) integrates text, voice, vision, and reasoning natively. Strong fit for consumer apps, voice assistants, and agentic workflows.
Anthropic Claude Opus 4.7 — Long Context + Coding
Claude Opus 4.7 dominates on long-context reasoning (1M tokens). Best for code generation, agentic tool use, complex document analysis.
Google Gemini 2.5 Pro — RAG + Native Tools
Gemini 2.5 Pro has best-in-class native search grounding and 2M context window. Best for: RAG over corporate knowledge bases, multi-doc analysis.
Meta Llama 4 — Open Weights Champion
Llama 4 (open weights, free for commercial use) closed the quality gap with closed models. Best for: privacy-sensitive use, on-prem deployment.
Mistral Large 2 — European Alternative
Mistral (Paris-based) provides EU-data-resident LLMs with competitive quality at lower cost. Best for: regulated EU industries.