Benchmarks / BulletBench

Measured by Spring Prompt

BulletBench

Name: BulletBench results
Creator: Spring Prompt

When every second of thinking time comes off the clock, which models are fast enough to still make good decisions?

Last updated 13 Nov 2026

Results dated: 1 Oct 2026 to 12 Nov 2026
Results: 46 configurations of 44 models
Unit: US dollars
Licence: Spring Prompt original
Sample: 8 to 12 games per configuration

BulletBench in brief

What it measures. BulletBench is a Spring Prompt benchmark. When thinking time comes off the clock, which models are quick enough to still make good decisions? It scores: Decision quality under real time pressure; Response latency at the provider's default settings; Which reasoning settings are fast enough to use.

Latest results. 12 November 2026, 44 models ranked.

Top 3 on Cost per game, Lightning 10+1 (US dollars, lower is better, each model at its best setting):

Mercury Decide (Inception): $0
Parallel Decisions Fast (Parallel): $0
Span-02 (Respan): $0.0001

The first 2 are too close to tell apart, so read the order among them as a tie.

How to cite. Spring Prompt, "BulletBench", results dated 12 November 2026. https://springprompt.com/benchmarks/bulletbench

Cost per game: d1 Ultra

Top 15 of 44 results · US dollars, lower is better · ≈ cannot be told apart from the leader. Choose a model to highlight it.Clear highlight

1≈ Mercury Decide Decision modelInception $0
1≈ Parallel Decisions Fast Decision modelParallel $0
3 Span-02 Decision modelRespan $0.0001
4 d1.1 Decision modelLiquid AI $0.0002
5 Decider Flash v1.2 Decision modelPerplexity $0.0003
5 Joey 1 Decision modelBaseten $0.0003
5 Decider v1.2 Decision modelPerplexity $0.0003
8 d1 Decision modelLiquid AI $0.0005
9 d1 Ultra Decision modelLiquid AI $0.0006
9 Kev 4B Decision modelJared Palmer $0.0006
11 Reflex Decision modelMorph $0.0007
12 Drex v1.5 Decision modelNace AI $0.0008
12 Elephant 1 Decision modelBaseten $0.0008
14 Decider V1 27B Decision modelPerplexity $0.0009
14 Microsoft Decision 1 Decision modelMicrosoft $0.0009

Lightning: strength against thinking time

Each configuration's median time per move at 10 seconds plus 1 a move. Right of the line, a model thinks longer than the increment it earns and the clock drains.

Named: the six bestOther models (hover for names)

Full results

BulletBench Lightning 10+1: cost per game, US dollars, lower is better
#	Model	Cost per game, Lightning 10+1 US dollars, lower is better	Lightning 10+1 ladder Elo	Bullet 60s ladder Elo	Blitz 3+2 ladder Elo	Move time seconds	Lost on time % of games	Slowest 10% of moves seconds, 90th percentile	Games at this clock
1≈	Mercury Decide Decision modelInception	$0	614	572	–	0.4 s	0.0%	0.5 s	12
1≈	Parallel Decisions Fast Decision modelParallel	$0	529	571	–	0.8 s	0.0%	1.0 s	12
3	Span-02 Decision modelRespan	$0.0001	614	571	–	0.9 s	0.0%	1.2 s	12
4	d1.1 Decision modelLiquid AI	$0.0002	572	614	–	0.6 s	0.0%	0.8 s	12
5	Decider Flash v1.2 Decision modelPerplexity	$0.0003	489	489	–	0.5 s	0.0%	0.5 s	12
5	Joey 1 Decision modelBaseten	$0.0003	529	529	–	0.5 s	0.0%	0.6 s	12
5	Decider v1.2 Decision modelPerplexity	$0.0003	572	571	–	0.6 s	0.0%	0.8 s	12
8	d1 Decision modelLiquid AI	$0.0005	572	584	–	0.6 s	0.0%	0.7 s	12
9	d1 Ultra Decision modelLiquid AI	$0.0006	529	572	–	0.6 s	0.0%	1.1 s	12
9	Kev 4B Decision modelJared Palmer	$0.0006	33	–	–	1.0 s	66.7%	1.4 s	12
11	Reflex Decision modelMorph	$0.0007	616	614	–	0.6 s	0.0%	0.7 s	12
12	Drex v1.5 Decision modelNace AI	$0.0008	489	449	–	0.7 s	0.0%	1.1 s	12
12	Elephant 1 Decision modelBaseten	$0.0008	614	571	–	0.5 s	0.0%	0.6 s	12
14	Decider V1 27B Decision modelPerplexity	$0.0009	420	385	–	0.6 s	0.0%	0.7 s	12
14	Microsoft Decision 1 Decision modelMicrosoft	$0.0009	453	490	–	0.6 s	0.0%	0.7 s	12
14	Drex v2.0 Decision modelNace AI	$0.0009	571	571	–	0.6 s	0.0%	0.9 s	12
17	Drex Max Decision modelNace AI	$0.0010	409	572	–	1.1 s	25.0%	1.9 s	12
17	Jev 1.14 Decision modelTypeSafe	$0.0010	529	529	–	0.5 s	0.0%	0.5 s	12
17	Mercury 3 (no reasoning)Inception	$0.0010	555	491	–	0.4 s	0.0%	–	–
20	Drex Max Finance Decision modelNace AI	$0.0013	614	571	–	0.7 s	0.0%	1.3 s	12
21	Jev 1.13 Decision modelTypeSafe	$0.0014	571	572	–	0.5 s	0.0%	0.7 s	12
22	Gemini Decision 1 Decision modelGoogle	$0.0018	755	571	–	0.7 s	0.0%	0.8 s	12
22	Mammoth 1 Decision modelBaseten	$0.0018	571	571	–	0.6 s	0.0%	0.6 s	12
24	Seed-2.0-Mini (minimal reasoning)ByteDance	$0.0019	571	453	–	0.3 s	0.0%	0.4 s	12
25	Clef Flash Decision modelCloudflare	$0.0024	529	529	–	0.5 s	0.0%	0.7 s	12
26	GPT-5.4 nano (no reasoning)OpenAI	$0.0025	197	33	–	1.0 s	75.0%	–	–
26	GPT-6 Luna Decisions Decision modelOpenAI	$0.0025	529	489	–	0.5 s	0.0%	0.5 s	12
28	GLM-5.3 FlashX Legal (low reasoning)Z.ai	$0.0035	310	358	–	0.9 s	62.5%	2.1 s	8
29	Clef Omni Decision modelCloudflare	$0.0040	616	571	–	0.5 s	0.0%	0.6 s	12
30	Gemini 3.8 Flash (low reasoning)Google	$0.0041	197	1,068	–	1.8 s	83.3%	2.1 s	12
30	Mistral Small 4 (no reasoning)Mistral AI	$0.0041	571	367	–	0.6 s	0.0%	1.2 s	12
32	Gemini 3.6 Flash (minimal reasoning)Google	$0.0050	33	628	–	1.5 s	91.7%	1.9 s	12
33	Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite (minimal reasoning)Google	$0.0058	780	912	–	0.8 s	0.0%	–	–
34	GPT-6.1 Terra (low reasoning)OpenAI	$0.0064	491	358	–	1.3 s	62.5%	3.3 s	8
35	Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGoogle	$0.0070	892	780	707	0.9 s	0.0%	–	–
36	Clef Decision modelCloudflare	$0.0072	529	529	–	0.7 s	0.0%	1.0 s	12
37	Inkling Small (no reasoning)Thinking Machines	$0.0077	571	529	–	0.6 s	0.0%	1.6 s	12
38	Claude Sonnet 5.5 (low reasoning)Anthropic	$0.0080	33	–	–	2.1 s	91.7%	2.5 s	12
39	Claude Haiku 4.5Anthropic	$0.0095	33	445	491	1.3 s	83.3%	1.8 s	12
40	Mistral Large 4Mistral AI	$0.0117	249	–	555	0.8 s	58.3%	1.9 s	12
41	GPT-5.4 mini (no reasoning)OpenAI	$0.0136	571	197	–	0.9 s	0.0%	–	–
42	Gemini 3.5 Flash (minimal reasoning)Google	$0.0213	727	810	–	1.2 s	33.3%	1.3 s	12
43	Mistral Medium 3.5Mistral AI · best of 2 settings	$0.0297	529	385	555	0.5 s	0.0%	0.8 s	12
44	GPT-6.1 Sol UltrafastOpenAI · best of 2 settings	$0.16	197	540	927	1.4 s	83.3%	2.2 s	12

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Source: Spring Prompt, springprompt.com/benchmarks/bulletbench. Test your own prompt on these models →

Ranks follow the score as shown, so equal numbers share a rank. Each model is shown at its best setting; show every setting. Each model runs at its provider's default reasoning setting and, where the provider offers a faster one, again at its fastest setting, listed separately. Blitz 3+2 was run at default settings only. Equal ratings are not a glitch: the ladder's ratings come in steps (see Honest caveats below).

Progress over time

Cost per game, plotted at each model's release date, lower is better. Each model counts once, at its best setting. Scores are today's, not launch day's; 27 models without a known release date are left off. Hover or tap a mark for its model.

Best score so far

Every model at its release date. The line moves each time a new release beats every earlier one, and each new best is named where there is room.

Best score by lab

Each lab's best so far, stepping whenever one of its releases beats its own earlier models. The 6 labs with the best scores today; 1 other not drawn.

InceptionOpenAIZ.aiGoogleMistral AIThinking Machines

Too slow for the clock

These configurations lost their first four games on time, so they were stopped there and are not rated for that clock. Each shows its median time per move and the time that 1 move in 10 took or exceeded: a median under the increment still loses on time when the slow tail is long. Being too slow is the result, not a fault.

Bullet 60s

Claude Fable 5.1 median 4.2 s, 1 in 10 moves 6.3 s+
Claude Fable 5.1 (low reasoning) median 4.3 s, 1 in 10 moves 9.3 s+
Claude Haiku 5.5 median 4.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 8.1 s+
Claude Haiku 5.5 (low reasoning) median 3.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 9.5 s+
Claude Opus 5.5 median 3.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 5.8 s+
Claude Opus 5.5 (low reasoning) median 3.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 5.3 s+
Claude Sonnet 5.5 median 3.0 s, 1 in 10 moves 9.4 s+
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (low reasoning) median 2.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 5.0 s+
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0423 median 5.0 s, 1 in 10 moves 27.8 s+
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (low reasoning) median 1.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 10.6 s+
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 median 2.4 s, 1 in 10 moves 20.0 s+
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview median 4.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 8.4 s+
Gemini 4 Argon (low reasoning) median 5.0 s, 1 in 10 moves 5.0 s+
Gemini 4 Carbon median 5.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 8.7 s+
Mercury 3 median 4.2 s, 1 in 10 moves 25.6 s+
Kev 4B median 1.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 15.4 s+
Muse Spark 1.3 median 7.0 s, 1 in 10 moves 28.1 s+
Muse Wonder median 3.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 8.1 s+
MiniMax M3.1 Flash median 4.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 17.9 s+
minimax/minimax-m3.1-flash:free median 3.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 20.8 s+
minimax/minimax-m3.1-flash:free (low reasoning) median 3.0 s, 1 in 10 moves 8.4 s+
Mistral Large 4 median 0.8 s, 1 in 10 moves 2.9 s+
Kimi K3 median 3.2 s, 1 in 10 moves 33.8 s+
Kimi K3.1 Pro median 6.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 16.1 s+
GPT-6 Luna median 4.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 10.8 s+
GPT-6 Sol median 4.2 s, 1 in 10 moves 9.4 s+
GPT-6.1 Terra median 3.4 s, 1 in 10 moves 7.3 s+
Particle-1 median 4.3 s, 1 in 10 moves 12.7 s+
Particle-1 (low reasoning) median 4.4 s, 1 in 10 moves 12.8 s+
Qwen3.8 Flash median 3.8 s, 1 in 10 moves 16.9 s+
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) median 4.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 22.8 s+
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) (minimal reasoning) median 4.7 s, 1 in 10 moves 10.3 s+
Grok 4.7 median 4.7 s, 1 in 10 moves 17.7 s+
Grok 4.7 (low reasoning) median 5.4 s, 1 in 10 moves 15.5 s+
MiMo-V2.6-Flash median 4.0 s, 1 in 10 moves 11.7 s+
GLM 4.7 Flash median 9.7 s, 1 in 10 moves 23.1 s+
GLM 5.3 Flash (low reasoning) median 2.2 s, 1 in 10 moves 5.3 s+
GLM 5.3 FlashX Legal median 2.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 11.0 s+

Lightning 10+1

Claude Fable 5.1 median 4.4 s, 1 in 10 moves 6.7 s+
Claude Fable 5.1 (low reasoning) median 4.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 6.7 s+
Claude Fable 5.2 median 2.2 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.1 s+
Claude Fable 5.2 (low reasoning) median 3.7 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.4 s+
Claude Haiku 5.5 median 1.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.8 s+
Claude Haiku 5.5 (low reasoning) median 1.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 2.9 s+
Claude Haiku 5.5 (no reasoning) median 1.8 s, 1 in 10 moves 2.2 s+
Claude Opus 5.5 median 3.0 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.5 s+
Claude Opus 5.5 (low reasoning) median 2.8 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.3 s+
Claude Sonnet 5.5 median 2.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 2.7 s+
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0423 median 4.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 6.6 s+
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (low reasoning) median 0.8 s, 1 in 10 moves 1.7 s+
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 median 1.4 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.9 s+
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (low reasoning) median 1.2 s, 1 in 10 moves 5.3 s+
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview median 2.7 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.4 s+
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview (low reasoning) median 2.5 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.0 s+
Gemini 3.8 Flash median 2.3 s, 1 in 10 moves 2.9 s+
Gemini 4 Argon median 3.5 s, 1 in 10 moves 5.2 s+
Gemini 4 Argon (low reasoning) median 2.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 6.6 s+
Gemini 4 Carbon median 3.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.1 s+
Gemini 4 Carbon (low reasoning) median 2.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.4 s+
Gemini 4 Hydrogen median 1.8 s
Gemini 4 Hydrogen (low reasoning) median 1.9 s
Mercury 3 median 0.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 2.7 s+
Mercury 3 (low reasoning) median 1.2 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.7 s+
Muse Ember median 1.7 s, 1 in 10 moves 5.0 s+
Muse Ember (low reasoning) median 1.7 s, 1 in 10 moves 2.9 s+
Muse Ember (minimal reasoning) median 1.4 s, 1 in 10 moves 2.6 s+
Muse Spark 1.3 median 4.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 9.5 s+
Muse Spark 1.3 (minimal reasoning) median 2.2 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.9 s+
Muse Wonder median 2.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.9 s+
Muse Wonder (minimal reasoning) median 1.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 2.8 s+
MiniMax M3.1 Flash median 2.8 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.5 s+
MiniMax M3.1 Flash (low reasoning) median 2.2 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.4 s+
minimax/minimax-m3.1-flash:free median 1.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.8 s+
minimax/minimax-m3.1-flash:free (low reasoning) median 1.8 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.9 s+
Kimi K3 median 1.4 s, 1 in 10 moves 6.5 s+
Kimi K3 (low reasoning) median 1.7 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.2 s+
Kimi K3.1 Pro median 4.5 s, 1 in 10 moves 5.8 s+
Kimi K3.1 Pro (low reasoning) median 3.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.6 s+
GPT-6 Astra median 2.0 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.4 s+
GPT-6 Astra (low reasoning) median 2.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.1 s+
GPT-6 Luna median 2.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.2 s+
GPT-6 Luna (no reasoning) median 2.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.1 s+
GPT-6 Sol median 1.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.7 s+
GPT-6 Sol (no reasoning) median 1.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 2.0 s+
GPT-6.1 Sol median 2.0 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.4 s+
GPT-6.1 Sol (low reasoning) median 1.6 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.2 s+
GPT-6.1 Terra median 1.3 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.4 s+
Particle-1 median 2.2 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.5 s+
Particle-1 (low reasoning) median 1.3 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.6 s+
Qwen3.8 Flash median 2.5 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.8 s+
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) median 3.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.6 s+
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) (minimal reasoning) median 2.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.9 s+
Grok 4.7 median 2.5 s, 1 in 10 moves 5.5 s+
Grok 4.7 (low reasoning) median 2.3 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.3 s+
MiMo-V2.6-Flash median 3.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.6 s+
GLM 4.7 Flash median 4.4 s, 1 in 10 moves 6.0 s+
GLM 5.3 median 1.8 s, 1 in 10 moves 6.2 s+
GLM 5.3 (low reasoning) median 1.2 s, 1 in 10 moves 4.0 s+
GLM 5.3 Flash (low reasoning) median 0.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 2.6 s+
GLM 5.3 FlashX Legal median 1.3 s, 1 in 10 moves 3.1 s+

Blitz 3+2

DeepSeek V4 Pro 0423 median 6.4 s, 1 in 10 moves 29.7 s+
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 median 4.7 s, 1 in 10 moves 62.2 s+
Mercury 3 median 9.0 s, 1 in 10 moves 72.7 s+
Muse Ember median 6.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 48.0 s+
Muse Spark 1.3 median 19.4 s, 1 in 10 moves 60.0 s+
MiniMax M3.1 Flash median 9.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 46.9 s+
minimax/minimax-m3.1-flash:free median 5.3 s, 1 in 10 moves 76.0 s+
Mistral Large 4 (high reasoning) median 26.1 s, 1 in 10 moves 69.5 s+
Kimi K3 median 6.8 s, 1 in 10 moves 32.1 s+
Kimi K3.1 Pro median 10.8 s, 1 in 10 moves 47.7 s+
GPT-6 Sol median 8.2 s, 1 in 10 moves 22.9 s+
Particle-1 median 5.0 s, 1 in 10 moves 39.3 s+
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) median 7.4 s, 1 in 10 moves 88.9 s+
Grok 4.7 median 9.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 32.9 s+
GLM 5.3 FlashX Legal median 3.0 s, 1 in 10 moves 33.7 s+

Decision models

Decision models answer a typed question instead of writing text. Each move is one question whose options are the legal moves, so they cannot play an illegal move, and they are not told their clock. They play the same clock, ladder and engine and are in the table above; here they are ranked among themselves.

BulletBench Lightning 10+1: cost per game, US dollars, lower is better
#	Model	Cost per game, Lightning 10+1 US dollars, lower is better	Lightning 10+1 ladder Elo	Bullet 60s ladder Elo	Move time seconds	Lost on time % of games	Slowest 10% of moves seconds, 90th percentile	Games at this clock
1≈	Mercury DecideInception	$0	614	572	0.4 s	0.0%	0.5 s	12
1≈	Parallel Decisions FastParallel	$0	529	571	0.8 s	0.0%	1.0 s	12
3	Span-02Respan	$0.0001	614	571	0.9 s	0.0%	1.2 s	12
4	d1.1Liquid AI	$0.0002	572	614	0.6 s	0.0%	0.8 s	12
5	Decider Flash v1.2Perplexity	$0.0003	489	489	0.5 s	0.0%	0.5 s	12
5	Joey 1Baseten	$0.0003	529	529	0.5 s	0.0%	0.6 s	12
5	Decider v1.2Perplexity	$0.0003	572	571	0.6 s	0.0%	0.8 s	12
8	d1Liquid AI	$0.0005	572	584	0.6 s	0.0%	0.7 s	12
9	d1 UltraLiquid AI	$0.0006	529	572	0.6 s	0.0%	1.1 s	12
9	Kev 4BJared Palmer	$0.0006	33	–	1.0 s	66.7%	1.4 s	12
11	ReflexMorph	$0.0007	616	614	0.6 s	0.0%	0.7 s	12
12	Drex v1.5Nace AI	$0.0008	489	449	0.7 s	0.0%	1.1 s	12
12	Elephant 1Baseten	$0.0008	614	571	0.5 s	0.0%	0.6 s	12
14	Decider V1 27BPerplexity	$0.0009	420	385	0.6 s	0.0%	0.7 s	12
14	Microsoft Decision 1Microsoft	$0.0009	453	490	0.6 s	0.0%	0.7 s	12
14	Drex v2.0Nace AI	$0.0009	571	571	0.6 s	0.0%	0.9 s	12
17	Drex MaxNace AI	$0.0010	409	572	1.1 s	25.0%	1.9 s	12
17	Jev 1.14TypeSafe	$0.0010	529	529	0.5 s	0.0%	0.5 s	12
19	Drex Max FinanceNace AI	$0.0013	614	571	0.7 s	0.0%	1.3 s	12
20	Jev 1.13TypeSafe	$0.0014	571	572	0.5 s	0.0%	0.7 s	12
21	Gemini Decision 1Google	$0.0018	755	571	0.7 s	0.0%	0.8 s	12
21	Mammoth 1Baseten	$0.0018	571	571	0.6 s	0.0%	0.6 s	12
23	Clef FlashCloudflare	$0.0024	529	529	0.5 s	0.0%	0.7 s	12
24	GPT-6 Luna DecisionsOpenAI	$0.0025	529	489	0.5 s	0.0%	0.5 s	12
25	Clef OmniCloudflare	$0.0040	616	571	0.5 s	0.0%	0.6 s	12
26	ClefCloudflare	$0.0072	529	529	0.7 s	0.0%	1.0 s	12

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Source: Spring Prompt, springprompt.com/benchmarks/bulletbench. Test your own prompt on these models →

Too slow for the clock. These lost their first four games on time and are not rated for that clock.

Bullet 60s

Kev 4B median 1.9 s, 1 in 10 moves 15.4 s+

Real games: the clock at Lightning 10+1

Each model's clock after every move of one game. A fast model earns back more than it spends; a slow one runs out within a few moves, whatever the position.

Gemini 3.5 Flash LiteWon by checkmate after 28 moves

e40.6 s10.4 s left
Nf30.9 s10.4 s left
Bc40.6 s10.9 s left
O-O0.9 s10.9 s left
c30.6 s11.4 s left
d40.9 s11.4 s left
Nxe51.0 s11.4 s left
Nxc60.6 s11.8 s left
Qxg40.9 s11.9 s left
Qxc8+0.9 s12.0 s left
… 18 more moves

Claude Opus 5.5Lost on time after 3 moves

e43.5 s7.5 s left
Nf33.5 s5.0 s left
d43.3 s2.6 s left

More from the results

Bullet: strength against thinking time

The same at 60 seconds for the whole game, no increment. A 40-move game leaves 1.5 seconds a move.

Named: the six bestOther models (hover for names)

How games are lost

Share of games lost on time, and moves with no legal reply, by clock.

Model	On time, Lightning	On time, Bullet	Invalid moves, Lightning	Invalid moves, Bullet
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGoogle	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite (minimal reasoning)Google	0.0%	8.3%	0.2%	0.0%
Gemini Decision 1Google	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Gemini 3.5 Flash (minimal reasoning)Google	33.3%	25.0%	0.6%	0.5%
Clef OmniCloudflare	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
ReflexMorph	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Elephant 1Baseten	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Mercury DecideInception	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Drex Max FinanceNace AI	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Span-02Respan	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast (low reasoning)OpenAI	50.0%	25.0%	0.0%	0.0%
d1.1Liquid AI	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
d1Liquid AI	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Decider v1.2Perplexity	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Mammoth 1Baseten	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Seed-2.0-Mini (minimal reasoning)ByteDance	0.0%	0.0%	0.8%	0.4%
Mistral Small 4 (no reasoning)Mistral AI	0.0%	25.0%	1.0%	0.6%
Drex v2.0Nace AI	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
GPT-5.4 mini (no reasoning)OpenAI	0.0%	50.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Inkling Small (no reasoning)Thinking Machines	0.0%	0.0%	5.3%	7.2%
Jev 1.13TypeSafe	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Mercury 3 (no reasoning)Inception	0.0%	0.0%	0.4%	0.0%
Joey 1Baseten	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Clef FlashCloudflare	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
ClefCloudflare	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
d1 UltraLiquid AI	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Mistral Medium 3.5 (no reasoning)Mistral AI	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.4%
Mistral Medium 3.5Mistral AI	0.0%	8.3%	0.3%	0.8%
GPT-6 Luna DecisionsOpenAI	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Parallel Decisions FastParallel	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Jev 1.14TypeSafe	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
GPT-6.1 Terra (low reasoning)OpenAI	62.5%	75.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Drex v1.5Nace AI	0.0%	8.3%	0.0%	0.0%
Decider Flash v1.2Perplexity	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Microsoft Decision 1Microsoft	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Decider V1 27BPerplexity	0.0%	8.3%	0.0%	0.0%
Drex MaxNace AI	25.0%	33.3%	0.0%	0.0%
GLM-5.3 FlashX Legal (low reasoning)Z.ai	62.5%	37.5%	0.0%	0.0%
Mistral Large 4Mistral AI	58.3%	–	1.8%	–
Gemini 3.8 Flash (low reasoning)Google	83.3%	50.0%	0.0%	0.0%
GPT-5.4 nano (no reasoning)OpenAI	75.0%	66.7%	4.0%	3.1%
GPT-6.1 Sol UltrafastOpenAI	83.3%	41.7%	0.0%	0.0%
Claude Haiku 4.5Anthropic	83.3%	25.0%	0.0%	0.3%
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (low reasoning)Anthropic	91.7%	–	0.0%	–
Gemini 3.6 Flash (minimal reasoning)Google	91.7%	41.7%	0.0%	0.3%
Kev 4BJared Palmer	66.7%	–	0.0%	–

Lightning: strength against cost

What one Lightning game cost at the run date's prices, on a log scale. Up and to the left is better; the dashed line joins the strongest model at each cost.

Named: the six best and the best for the moneyOther models (hover for names)Best score at each cost

Best per budget

Span-02: 614 at $0.0001
Reflex: 616 at $0.0007
Gemini Decision 1: 755 at $0.0018
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite (minimal reasoning): 780 at $0.0058
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite: 892 at $0.0070

Cheapest first: each model here beats every cheaper one on score.

How BulletBench works

1
The position
The model gets the position, the moves so far, its remaining clock and the legal moves.
2
The reply
It answers with one move. The whole API round trip, including any hidden reasoning, comes off its clock.
3
The engine
Stockfish replies instantly at the model's current ladder level.
4
The ladder
Win and the next game is a level up; lose and it is a level down; draw and it stays. The results give a rating with a 95% interval.

Why chess on a clock

Many products need an answer in about a second: routing, triage, autocomplete, live agents. BulletBench asks which models can still think usefully at that speed. Chess gives a hard, objective score, and the clock makes slow thinking a real cost instead of a free extra.

The clocks

Lightning 10+1: Ten seconds, plus one second a move. A model can play for ever, but only at about a second an answer.
Bullet 60s: One minute for the whole game, no increment.
Blitz 3+2: Three minutes plus two seconds a move: room for reasoning models, for comparison.

Fair play

Same prompt: Every model gets the same system prompt and position format.
Invalid replies: A reply with no legal move gets two corrective retries, then a random legal move is played and counted.
Settings: Each model runs at its provider's default and, where the provider offers one, its fastest reasoning setting, shown separately.

Honest caveats

A dozen games or fewer per clock (the table gives each configuration's count) give wide intervals, so neighbouring ranks are often within each other's ranges. Ratings also come in steps: the engine plays at fixed levels and the rating is fitted from which levels a model beat, drew or lost to, so models with the same results against the same levels get exactly the same rating. Latency depends on the provider's servers on the day. The ladder's Elo anchors come from v1's Stockfish; this edition runs Stockfish 19, so ratings are not comparable with v1's.

What it measures

Decision quality under real time pressure
Response latency at the provider's default settings
Which reasoning settings are fast enough to use

What it does not measure

Any business skill: this is chess against an engine
Chess strength without a clock

Method

Games against a Stockfish ladder; every second of response time comes off the model's clock
Each model at its default setting and, where offered, its fastest reasoning setting
Ladder Elo with a 95% interval; it orders models, it is not a FIDE rating

How all our benchmarks work

Use the data

Every result on this page is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: results.csv · results.json. Credit Spring Prompt with a link. All downloads · Embed the chart

Embed this chart

Put BulletBench's current top 10 in your article. Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0; the code includes the credit link. Add ?n=5 for fewer rows, ?models= with model slugs (as in our model page addresses) for your own comparison, or ?theme=dark.

Interactive chart

<iframe src="https://springprompt.com/embed/bulletbench" title="BulletBench results by Spring Prompt" width="100%" height="456" style="border:0;max-width:720px" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://springprompt.com/benchmarks/bulletbench">BulletBench results by Spring Prompt</a></p>

Image, for sites that block iframes

<a href="https://springprompt.com/benchmarks/bulletbench"><img src="https://springprompt.com/og/benchmarks/bulletbench.png" alt="BulletBench: the top 10 AI models by ladder elo" width="1200" height="630" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><a href="https://springprompt.com/benchmarks/bulletbench">BulletBench results by Spring Prompt</a></p>

See the image

BulletBench

BulletBench in brief

Cost per game: d1 Ultra

Lightning: strength against thinking time

Full results

Progress over time

Best score so far

Best score by lab

Too slow for the clock

Bullet 60s

Lightning 10+1

Blitz 3+2

Decision models

Bullet 60s

Real games: the clock at Lightning 10+1

More from the results

Bullet: strength against thinking time

How games are lost

Lightning: strength against cost

Best per budget

How BulletBench works

The position

The reply

The engine

The ladder

Why chess on a clock

The clocks

Fair play

Honest caveats

What it measures

What it does not measure

Method

Use the data

Embed this chart

Interactive chart

Image, for sites that block iframes