Best AI for research and fact-checking
As of 2026-07-18, Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.8 (Fast) is the strongest model for this task in our daily benchmark, where over 350 AI models are evaluated and the best are presented.
Research is the use with the highest payoff and the highest risk. A language model without search answers from memory — and memory contains both facts and things that merely resemble facts.
For research we rank by overall score, which captures both precision and comprehension. Ranked by overall score, from today’s benchmark.
Today’s ranking
| Model | Provider | Score | Language | Speed | Input price/1M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.8 (Fast) | anthropic | 8.3/10 | 9.3/10 | 131 t/s | $10.00 |
| Anthropic: Claude Haiku 4.5 | anthropic | 8.0/10 | 9.3/10 | 113 t/s | $1.00 |
| Google: Gemma 3 4B | 8.0/10 | 9.3/10 | 237 t/s | $0.05 | |
| Mistral: Mistral Small 3 | mistralai | 7.8/10 | 8.7/10 | 234 t/s | $0.05 |
| Perplexity: Sonar Pro | perplexity | 7.7/10 | 9.0/10 | 68 t/s | $3.00 |
| Cohere: Command R+ (08-2024) | cohere | 7.5/10 | 9.3/10 | 160 t/s | $2.50 |
| Meta: Llama 4 Maverick | meta-llama | 7.2/10 | 8.0/10 | 176 t/s | $0.20 |
| Google: Gemini 3.5 Flash | 7.2/10 | 8.0/10 | 419 t/s | $1.50 |
Distinguish models with and without search
A model with search access retrieves actual sources and can show you where a claim comes from. A model without search reproduces what it remembers from training — which has a knowledge cut-off and cannot be verified. For anything that has to be right, use a model that gives you links.
The source is the answer, not the text
Use AI to find the sources, not to replace them. Always ask for links, open them, and check that the source actually says what the model claims. Fabricated references that look entirely real — right author, plausible title, wrong or non-existent article — are the most common and most dangerous failure.
Frequently asked questions
Other tasks
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