R1 alternatives
Match · Updated July 2026
The closest alternative to R1 is GPT-5 Nano — comparable intelligence (19.9 vs 20.1); for a cheaper option, GPT-5.6 Luna runs $0.100/M vs $0.700/M; and the best open-weight substitute is Kimi K3.
Closest match
Cheaper alternatives
gpt-5.6-luna
$0.100/M input · 51.2 intel
minimax-m3
$0.300/M input · 44.4 intel
minimax-m3:batch
$0.150/M input · 44.4 intel
deepseek-v4-pro
$0.435/M input · 44.3 intel
mimo-v2.5-pro
$0.435/M input · 42.2 intel
hy3
$0.132/M input · 41.2 intel
Smarter alternatives
Open-source alternatives
kimi-k3
57.1 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
glm-5.2
51.1 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
minimax-m3
44.4 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
minimax-m3:batch
44.4 intel · open weights · 524K ctx
deepseek-v4-pro
44.3 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
kimi-k2.6
44.2 intel · open weights · 262K ctx
Frequently asked
What is the best alternative to R1?
GPT-5 Nano is the closest alternative to R1, with an Intelligence Index of 19.9 (R1 scores 20.1) at $0.050 per million input tokens.
Is there a cheaper alternative to R1?
Yes — GPT-5.6 Luna costs $0.100 per million input tokens versus $0.700 for R1, while staying within ~8 points of its Intelligence Index.
Is there an open-source alternative to R1?
Kimi K3 is the strongest open-weight alternative to R1 — downloadable from Hugging Face and self-hostable, scoring 57.1 on intelligence.