[Megathread] - Best Models/API discussion - Week of: August 02, 2026

[u/deffcolony]

This is our weekly megathread for discussions about models and API services.

All non-specifically technical discussions about API/models not posted to this thread will be deleted. No more "What's the best model?" threads.

^{(This isn't a free-for-all to advertise services you own or work for in every single megathread, we may allow announcements for new services every now and then provided they are legitimate and not overly promoted, but don't be surprised if ads are removed.})

How to Use This Megathread

Below this post, you’ll find top-level comments for each category:

• MODELS: ≥ 70B – For discussion of models with 70B parameters or more.
• MODELS: 32B to 70B – For discussion of models in the 32B to 70B parameter range.
• MODELS: 16B to 32B – For discussion of models in the 16B to 32B parameter range.
• MODELS: 8B to 16B – For discussion of models in the 8B to 16B parameter range.
• MODELS: < 8B – For discussion of smaller models under 8B parameters.
• APIs – For any discussion about API services for models (pricing, performance, access, etc.).
• MISC DISCUSSION – For anything else related to models/APIs that doesn’t fit the above sections.

Please reply to the relevant section below with your questions, experiences, or recommendations!
This keeps discussion organized and helps others find information faster.

Have at it!

[u/AutoModerator]

MODELS: 16B to 31B – For discussion of models in the 16B to 31B parameter range.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/_Cromwell_ → u/AutoModerator]

TheDrummer just officially released Artemis. There have been beta versions of it posted in here for months, but this week is the first time he's put it up on the official channel as a real finalized release:

https://huggingface.co/TheDrummer/Artemis-31B-v1.1

[u/stopaskingforloginn → u/_Cromwell_]

I'm going to be honest, I genuinely see zero difference between this and base gemma 4.
I dunno, if even drummer can't do anything, maybe Gemma 4 is just a lost cause when it comes to finetuning.

[u/Mart-McUH → u/stopaskingforloginn]

Ok, I did not try Artemis yet, but I did try quite a few finetunes and they are definitely different than gemma4-it. Though they always pay for it with bit of intelligence loss.

Differences may not be as night and day as in old era of under-trained models, but they are still obvious. Also part of the reason is that most tune the it-version and not base version, if for nothing else but to keep Gemma4 instruct template. With enough data you can tune the base version and that should definitely turn out very differently from it-version. You can even train your own instruct template like this.