LLM Speed Comparison 2026 — Every Major Model Ranked

Which LLM API is the fastest in 2026? We monitor 16 models across 4 providers every 5 minutes. Here's the complete speed ranking.

The Speed Ranking

Ranked by average TTFT (Time to First Token) — the most important metric for user-perceived speed:

Standard Models

| Rank | Model | Avg TTFT | Throughput | Provider |

|------|-------|----------|-----------|----------|

| 1 | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | ~450ms | ~160 tok/s | Google |

| 2 | Claude Haiku 4.7 | ~500ms | ~45 tok/s | Anthropic |

| 3 | Gemini 2.5 Flash | ~550ms | ~100 tok/s | Google |

| 4 | GPT-4.1 Mini | ~580ms | ~13 tok/s | OpenAI |

| 5 | GPT-4o Mini | ~600ms | ~33 tok/s | OpenAI |

| 6 | GPT-4o | ~700ms | ~28 tok/s | OpenAI |

| 7 | GPT-4.1 | ~730ms | ~35 tok/s | OpenAI |

| 8 | Claude Sonnet 4.7 | ~800ms | ~35 tok/s | Anthropic |

| 9 | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | ~950ms | ~24 tok/s | Anthropic |

| 10 | DeepSeek V3 | ~1200ms | varies | DeepSeek |

| 11 | Claude Opus 4.6 | ~1600ms | ~12 tok/s | Anthropic |

| 12 | Claude Opus 4.7 | ~1500ms | ~15 tok/s | Anthropic |

Reasoning Models

| Rank | Model | Avg TTFT | Provider |

|------|-------|----------|----------|

| 1 | o4-mini | ~1100ms | OpenAI |

| 2 | DeepSeek R1 | ~1150ms | DeepSeek |

| 3 | o3 | ~1350ms | OpenAI |

| 4 | Gemini 2.5 Pro | ~2000ms+ | Google |

Note: Reasoning model TTFT includes thinking time. These are not directly comparable to standard models.

Speed vs Throughput

TTFT tells you how fast the model starts responding. Throughput tells you how fast it generates text once it starts.

Fastest TTFT: Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite (~450ms)

Highest Throughput: Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite (~160 tok/s)

Best Balance: GPT-4o (fast TTFT + good throughput + high quality)

Google dominates raw speed. Anthropic leads on quality-per-token. OpenAI is the most consistent.

Speed vs Quality Tradeoff

The fastest models aren't always the best. Consider:

• Gemini Flash Lite is 3x faster than Claude Sonnet but less capable on complex tasks
• Claude Opus is 3x slower than GPT-4o but more thorough on reasoning
• DeepSeek V3 is slower than most but costs 90% less

What Metric Should You Optimize?

• Chat applications: TTFT matters most (users notice the pause before the first word)
• Batch processing: Throughput matters most (tokens/second = cost efficiency)
• Streaming UIs: ITL matters most (smooth token-by-token output)
• Production APIs: P95 latency matters most (your SLA depends on worst-case performance)

How We Collect This Data

ModelStats pings every model every 5 minutes with a real streaming API request. We measure TTFT, total latency, throughput, inter-token latency, and error rates from actual responses — not synthetic benchmarks.

All data is live at modelstats.ai. The rankings above are based on 7-day averages and update continuously.

Key Takeaways

• Google Gemini Flash models are the fastest by a wide margin
• Claude 4.7 is faster than 4.6 across the board
• Reasoning models (o3, R1) are 2-3x slower than standard models
• Speed isn't everything — match the model to your use case
• Check modelstats.ai for live, up-to-date rankings