300 streaming-capable models ranked for chatbot use cases. Scored with bonuses for function calling, JSON mode, web search, and affordable pricing - the capabilities that matter most for production chatbots.
| # | Model | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | GPT-5.4 ProOpenAI | 94 |
| 2 | GPT-5.4OpenAI | 94 |
| 3 | GPT-5.4 MiniOpenAI | 93 |
| 4 | GPT-5.2 ProOpenAI | 93 |
| 5 | GPT-5.2OpenAI | 93 |
| 6 | Claude Opus 4.6Anthropic | 92 |
| 7 | GPT-5 ProOpenAI | 92 |
| 8 | o3 Deep ResearchOpenAI | 92 |
| 9 | Claude Opus 4.5Anthropic | 90 |
| 10 | GPT-5OpenAI | 90 |
| 11 | Claude Sonnet 4.6Anthropic | 89 |
| 12 | Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | 89 |
| 13 | Grok 4.1 FastxAI | 87 |
| 14 | o3 ProOpenAI | 88 |
| 15 | Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle | 89 |
| 16 | Grok 4.20 BetaxAI | 86 |
| 17 | Grok 4xAI | 86 |
| 18 | o3OpenAI | 86 |
| 19 | GPT-5.1OpenAI | 85 |
| 20 | Grok 4 FastxAI | 83 |
| 21 | GPT-5.4 NanoOpenAI | 85 |
| 22 | GPT-5.3 ChatOpenAI | 85 |
| 23 | GPT-5.3-CodexOpenAI | 85 |
| 24 | GPT-5.2-CodexOpenAI | 85 |
| 25 | GPT-5.1-Codex-MaxOpenAI | 85 |
| 26 | GPT-5.1 ChatOpenAI | 85 |
| 27 | o4 Mini Deep ResearchOpenAI | 85 |
| 28 | o4 Mini HighOpenAI | 85 |
| 29 | Grok Code Fast 1xAI | 85 |
| 30 | Qwen3.5-9BAlibaba | 85 |
Streaming shows the AI's response word-by-word, creating a natural "typing" effect. This is essential for chatbots - users expect to see responses appear in real-time, not after a long delay.
Turn your chatbot from a conversational toy into a useful tool. Function calling lets the AI book appointments, look up orders, process payments, and interact with your backend systems.
A chatbot handling 10K conversations/day generates 50-100M tokens/month. At $15/1M tokens that costs $750-1500/month. Budget models under $1/1M bring that down to $50-100/month.
Models with web search can answer questions about current events, look up product information, and provide up-to-date answers - keeping your chatbot accurate without constant knowledge base updates.
Based on our composite scoring updated hourly, the top-ranked models for chatbots are shown at the top of this page. Rankings consider benchmarks, pricing, capabilities, and community adoption.
Yes, several models listed on this page offer free tiers or are fully open-source. Look for models marked as Free in the pricing column above.
We use a composite scoring system combining benchmark performance, capability matching for chatbots use cases, pricing, context window size, and community adoption. Scores are updated hourly.
Rankings refresh every hour using real-time data from benchmarks, API testing, and community metrics. The data shown always reflects the most current performance.