/best/creative-writingupdated August 2026149 models evaluated

Best AI for creative writing

Fiction, poetry, worldbuilding, and imaginative prose.

CodingMathWritingResearchTranslationData AnalysisChatbotsStudentsBusinessCreative WritingTabular Data & Spreadsheets

Creative writing is the hardest task to rank objectively. There is no ground truth. What we measure is a proxy: human preference on open-ended generation tasks, diversity of output across repeated prompts, and refusal rate on legitimate creative requests. The last metric matters — overly cautious models are frustrating for fiction writers.

What matters: voice range, structural coherence over long outputs, willingness to inhabit morally complex characters without breaking, and the ability to follow a creative brief without flattening it. The best creative models treat constraints as fuel, not as obstacles.

Our creative-writing rank weights writing quality (2.5×) and persona consistency (1.5×). Persona consistency is a proxy for character fidelity — a model that keeps losing track of who's speaking or drifts from established world rules produces unusable fiction.

Full rankings

All 149 models, scored for creative writing

weighted composite · lower-is-worse
#ModelProviderTask score$/in$/outContext
01Qwen: Qwen3.7 FlashQQwen5.00/5.0$0.030$0.1301M
02OpenAI: GPT-5.6 LunaOOpenAI5.00/5.0$0.200$1.201.1M
03Gemini 3.6 FlashGGoogle5.00/5.0$0.750$3.751.0M
04OpenAI: GPT-5.6 SolOOpenAI5.00/5.0$2.00$10.001.1M
05MoonshotAI: Kimi K3MMoonshotAI5.00/5.0$3.00$15.001.0M
06OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol ProOOpenAI5.00/5.0$5.00$30.001.1M
07Anthropic: Claude Fable 5AAnthropic5.00/5.0$10.00$50.001M
08Claude Opus 5 (Fast)AAnthropic5.00/5.0$10.00$50.001M
09DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731DDeepSeek4.67/5.0$0.045$0.0901.3M
10DeepSeek V4 FlashDDeepSeek4.67/5.0$0.085$0.1691.0M
11MiMo-V2.5XXiaomi4.67/5.0$0.140$0.2801.1M
12GLM-4.7 FlashZZhipu AI4.67/5.0$0.060$0.400203K
13Meta: Muse Glimmer 30BMMeta4.67/5.0$0.300$1.20131K
14MiniMax: MiniMax M3MMinimax4.67/5.0$0.300$1.201.0M
15Thinking Machines: Inkling SmallTThinkingmachines4.67/5.0$0.450$1.201.0M
16Qwen: Qwen3.7 PlusQQwen4.67/5.0$0.320$1.281M
17DeepSeek V4 ProDDeepSeek4.67/5.0$0.671$1.341.0M
18Qwen: Qwen3.6 PlusQQwen4.67/5.0$0.325$1.951M
19DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813DDeepSeek4.67/5.0$0.660$1.981.0M
20R1 0528DDeepSeek4.67/5.0$0.500$2.15164K
21NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 UltraNNVIDIA4.67/5.0$0.500$2.20262K
22Gemini 3.5 Flash LiteGGoogle4.67/5.0$0.300$2.501.0M
23Qwen: Qwen3.8 27BQQwen4.67/5.0$0.425$2.551M
24R1DDeepSeek4.67/5.0$0.700$2.5064K
25Grok 4.3XXAI4.67/5.0$1.25$2.501M
26Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGGoogle4.67/5.0$0.500$3.001.0M
27Kimi K2.7 CodeMMoonshot AI4.67/5.0$0.660$3.40262K
28Qwen: Qwen3.6 27BQQwen4.67/5.0$0.600$3.60262K
29Google: Gemini 3.7 FlashGGoogle4.67/5.0$0.750$3.751.0M
30Z.ai: GLM 5.2ZZhipu AI4.67/5.0$1.19$3.741.0M
31MoonshotAI: Kimi K2.6MMoonshotAI4.67/5.0$0.950$4.00262K
32Meta: Muse Spark 1.2MMeta4.67/5.0$1.25$4.251.0M
33Meta: Muse Spark 1.1MMeta4.67/5.0$1.25$4.251.0M
34Qwen 3.7 MaxQQwen4.67/5.0$1.48$4.421M
35OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna ProOOpenAI4.67/5.0$1.00$6.001.1M
36Qwen: Qwen3.6 Max PreviewQQwen4.67/5.0$1.03$6.16262K
37Grok 4.5XXAI4.67/5.0$2.00$6.00500K
38Gemini 3.5 FlashGGoogle4.67/5.0$1.50$9.001.0M
39Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 5AAnthropic4.67/5.0$2.00$10.001M
40Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewGGoogle4.67/5.0$2.00$12.001.0M
41OpenAI: GPT-5.6 TerraOOpenAI4.67/5.0$2.00$12.001.1M
42GPT-5.2OOpenAI4.67/5.0$1.75$14.00400K
43OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Terra ProOOpenAI4.67/5.0$2.50$15.001.1M
44Claude Opus 5AAnthropic4.67/5.0$5.00$25.001M
45Claude Opus 4.7AAnthropic4.67/5.0$5.00$25.001M
46GPT-5.5OOpenAI4.67/5.0$5.00$30.001.1M
47Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.8 (Fast)AAnthropic4.67/5.0$10.00$50.001M
48Qwen: Qwen3.5-9BQQwen4.33/5.0$0.100$0.150262K
49Ministral 3 8B 2512MMistral4.33/5.0$0.150$0.150262K
50NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 LightningNNVIDIA4.33/5.0$0.080$0.200262K
51Ministral 3 14B 2512MMistral4.33/5.0$0.200$0.200262K
52Gemma 4 31BGGoogle4.33/5.0$0.090$0.340262K
53Qwen: Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507QQwen4.33/5.0$0.087$0.350262K
54NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 SuperNNVIDIA4.33/5.0$0.085$0.4001M
55DeepSeek V3.2DDeepSeek4.33/5.0$0.269$0.400164K
56Grok 4.1 FastXXAI4.33/5.0$0.200$0.5002M
57inclusionAI: Ling-2.6-1TIInclusionai4.33/5.0$0.075$0.625262K
58Qwen: Qwen3.6 35B A3BQQwen4.33/5.0$0.100$0.900262K
59MiMo-V2.5-ProXXiaomi4.33/5.0$0.435$0.8701.1M
60Nex-N2-ProNNex AGI4.33/5.0$0.250$1.00262K
61MiniMax: MiniMax M2MMinimax4.33/5.0$0.255$1.02205K
62Qwen: Qwen3.6 FlashQQwen4.33/5.0$0.188$1.131M
63GPT-5.4 NanoOOpenAI4.33/5.0$0.200$1.25400K
64Qwen: Qwen3.5-35B-A3BQQwen4.33/5.0$0.250$1.25262K
65Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite PreviewGGoogle4.33/5.0$0.250$1.501.0M
66Google: Gemini 3.1 Flash LiteGGoogle4.33/5.0$0.250$1.501.0M
67DeepSeek V3.1DDeepSeek4.33/5.0$0.550$1.65164K
68Qwen: Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20QQwen4.33/5.0$0.300$1.801M
69GPT-5 MiniOOpenAI4.33/5.0$0.250$2.00400K
70Mistral Medium 3.1MMistral4.33/5.0$0.400$2.00131K
71xAI: Grok Build 0.1XXAI4.33/5.0$1.00$2.00256K
72Devstral 2 2512MMistral4.33/5.0$0.440$2.20262K
73Gemini 2.5 FlashGGoogle4.33/5.0$0.300$2.501.0M
74Grok 4.20XXAI4.33/5.0$1.25$2.502M
75Thinking Machines: InklingTThinkingmachines4.33/5.0$0.950$4.051.0M
76GPT-5.4 MiniOOpenAI4.33/5.0$0.750$4.50400K
77o4 MiniOOpenAI4.33/5.0$1.10$4.40200K
78Grok 4.6XXAI4.33/5.0$2.00$6.00500K
79Qwen: Qwen3.8 MaxQQwen4.33/5.0$2.00$6.001M
80Mistral Medium 3.5MMistral4.33/5.0$1.50$7.50262K
81GPT-4.1OOpenAI4.33/5.0$2.00$8.001.0M
82o3OOpenAI4.33/5.0$2.00$8.00200K
83GPT-5OOpenAI4.33/5.0$1.25$10.00400K
84GPT-5.1OOpenAI4.33/5.0$1.25$10.00400K
85Gemini 2.5 ProGGoogle4.33/5.0$1.25$10.001.0M
86GPT-5.4OOpenAI4.33/5.0$2.50$15.001.1M
87Claude Sonnet 4.6AAnthropic4.33/5.0$3.00$15.001M
88Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.8AAnthropic4.33/5.0$5.00$25.001M
89Claude Opus 4.6AAnthropic4.33/5.0$5.00$25.001M
90inclusionAI: Ling-2.6-flashIInclusionai4.00/5.0$0.010$0.030262K
91Ling-3.0-flashIInclusionai4.00/5.0$0.021$0.063262K
92Upstage: Solar Pro 4UUpstage4.00/5.0$0.030$0.120524K
93Ministral 3 3B 2512MMistral4.00/5.0$0.100$0.100131K
94Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1PPoolside4.00/5.0$0.060$0.120262K
95OpenAI: gpt-oss-120bOOpenAI4.00/5.0$0.037$0.170131K
96Qwen: Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507QQwen4.00/5.0$0.048$0.193262K
97Xiaomi: MiMo-V2-FlashXXiaomi4.00/5.0$0.100$0.300262K
98StepFun: Step 3.5 FlashSStepfun4.00/5.0$0.100$0.300262K
99Gemma 4 26B A4B GGoogle4.00/5.0$0.070$0.340262K
100ByteDance Seed: Seed-2.0-MiniBBytedance-seed4.00/5.0$0.100$0.400262K
101Gemini 2.5 Flash LiteGGoogle4.00/5.0$0.100$0.4001.0M
102Grok 3 MiniXXAI4.00/5.0$0.300$0.500131K
103Mistral Small 4MMistral4.00/5.0$0.150$0.600262K
104inclusionAI: Ring-2.6-1TIInclusionai4.00/5.0$0.075$0.625262K
105Arcee AI: Trinity Large ThinkingAArcee-ai4.00/5.0$0.220$0.850262K
106MiniMax: MiniMax M2.5MMinimax4.00/5.0$0.270$1.08205K
107StepFun: Step 3.7 FlashSStepfun4.00/5.0$0.200$1.15262K
108Kwaipilot: KAT-Coder-Pro V2KKwaipilot4.00/5.0$0.300$1.20262K
109MiniMax: MiniMax M2.1MMinimax4.00/5.0$0.300$1.20205K
110MiniMax: MiniMax M2.7MMinimax4.00/5.0$0.300$1.20205K
111GPT-4.1 MiniOOpenAI4.00/5.0$0.400$1.601.0M
112GLM-4.7ZZhipu AI4.00/5.0$0.400$1.75205K
113ByteDance Seed: Seed-2.0-LiteBBytedance-seed4.00/5.0$0.250$2.00262K
114ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6BBytedance-seed4.00/5.0$0.250$2.00262K
115ByteDance Seed: Seed-2.0-CodeBBytedance-seed4.00/5.0$0.500$3.00262K
116Claude Haiku 4.5AAnthropic4.00/5.0$1.00$5.00200K
117Grok 4XXAI4.00/5.0$3.00$15.00256K
118Poolside Laguna S 2.1PPoolside3.67/5.0$0.090$0.1801.0M
119ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 FlashBBytedance-seed3.67/5.0$0.075$0.300262K
120KAT-Coder-Air V2.5KKwaipilot3.67/5.0$0.150$0.600256K
121Inception: Mercury 2IInception3.67/5.0$0.250$0.750128K
122Llama 4 MaverickMMeta3.67/5.0$0.200$0.8001.0M
123DeepSeek V3.1 TerminusDDeepSeek3.67/5.0$0.270$1.00164K
124MiniMax: MiniMax M1MMinimax3.67/5.0$0.550$2.201M
125GPT-4oOOpenAI3.67/5.0$2.50$10.00128K
126Grok 3XXAI3.67/5.0$3.00$15.00131K
127IBM: Granite 4.1 8BIIbm-granite3.33/5.0$0.050$0.100131K
128OpenAI: gpt-oss-20bOOpenAI3.33/5.0$0.030$0.130131K
129GPT-5 NanoOOpenAI3.33/5.0$0.050$0.400400K
130GPT-4.1 NanoOOpenAI3.33/5.0$0.100$0.4001.0M
131Meituan: LongCat 2.0MMeituan3.33/5.0$0.300$1.201.0M
132Grok Code Fast 1XXAI3.33/5.0$0.200$1.50256K
133Z.ai: GLM 5.3ZZhipu AI3.33/5.0$1.40$4.401.3M
134IBM: Granite 4.0 MicroIIbm-granite3.00/5.0$0.017$0.112131K
135NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3BNNVIDIA3.00/5.0$0.050$0.200262K
136Mistral Small 3.2 24BMMistral3.00/5.0$0.075$0.200131K
137Llama 4 ScoutMMeta3.00/5.0$0.110$0.3401.3M
138GPT-4o-miniOOpenAI3.00/5.0$0.150$0.600128K
139Llama 3.3 70B InstructMMeta3.00/5.0$0.710$0.710131K
140Mistral Large 3 2512MMistral3.00/5.0$0.500$1.50262K
141Seed 2.1 TurboBByteDance3.00/5.0$0.500$2.50262K
142Codestral 2508MMistral2.67/5.0$0.300$0.900256K
143MiniMax: MiniMax-01MMinimax2.67/5.0$0.200$1.101.0M
144Qwen: Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B InstructQQwen2.33/5.0$0.070$0.280262K
145Mistral Small 3.1 24BMMistral2.33/5.0$0.351$0.555128K
146MiniMax: MiniMax M2-herMMinimax2.33/5.0$0.300$1.2066K
147KAT-Coder-Pro V2.5KKwaipilot2.00/5.0$0.740$2.96262K
148Meta: Muse Spark 1.2 ContributorMMeta0.00/5.0$0.100$0.2001.0M
149Sakana: Sakana NamazuSSakana0.00/5.0$0.950$4.00262K

Pricing — top 5 for creative writing

QQwen: Qwen3.7 Flash
$0.105/MTok
5.00/5.0
OOpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna
$0.950/MTok
5.00/5.0
GGemini 3.6 Flash
$3.00/MTok
5.00/5.0
OOpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol
$8.00/MTok
5.00/5.0
MMoonshotAI: Kimi K3
$12.00/MTok
5.00/5.0
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