MultiChallenge
Multi-turn conversations testing instruction retention, inference memory, versioned editing and self-coherence. Graded by LLM judge with rubrics.
On 2026-02-03 Scale switched the judge to Gemini 2.5 Pro and rewrote the rubric questions of 54 tasks. Scores published before that date may not match the current board.
In the authors’ words
We present MultiChallenge, a pioneering benchmark evaluating large language models (LLMs) on conducting multi-turn conversations with human users, a crucial yet underexamined capability for their applications. MultiChallenge identifies four categories of challenges in multi-turn conversations that are not only common and realistic among current human-LLM interactions, but are also challenging to all current frontier LLMs. All 4 challenges require accurate instruction-following, context allocation, and in-context reasoning at the same time. We also develop LLM as judge with instance-level rubrics to facilitate an automatic evaluation method with fair agreement with experienced human raters. Despite achieving near-perfect scores on existing multi-turn evaluation benchmarks, all frontier models have less than 50% accuracy on MultiChallenge, with the top-performing Claude 3.5 Sonnet (June 2024) achieving just a 41.4% average accuracy.
- Level
- Everyday Most adults, without training
- Scored
- Graded by a model A language model scores each response, usually against a rubric.
- Answers
- Open-ended Free-form text, documents, designs or media judged as a whole.
GPT-6.1 Sol leads with 82%
Best score per model from the benchmark's own leaderboard, read on 2 Nov 2026. Where a model ran with several settings or harnesses, we keep its best.
- 82.0 GPT-6.1 Sol
- 78.7
Gemini 4 Argon
- 75.5
Muse Spark
- 75.3
Muse Spark 1.1
- 74.9
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
- 74.2
Muse Spark Open
- 74.2 GPT-6.1 Terra
- 71.4
Gemini 3.1 Pro
- 69.2 GPT-5.4 Pro
- 67.7 Claude Haiku 5.5
- 65.7
Gemini 3 Pro
- 63.4 GPT-5.1
- 63.2 GPT-5
- 62.4 o3-pro
- 61.4 Kimi K2.5
- 60.6
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
- 59.0 GPT-5 mini
- 59.0 Claude Opus 4.5
- 58.6 Claude Opus 4
- 57.2 Claude Opus 4.1
- 57.1 Claude Sonnet 4
- 56.6 o3
- 56.0 Claude Opus 4.6
- 55.4 Kimi K2 Thinking
- 55.3 Claude Sonnet 4.5
- 53.6
Gemini 2.5 Pro
- 51.6 Claude 3.7 Sonnet
- 51.2 GPT-5.1 Instant
- 50.5 Claude Haiku 4.5
- 46.1
DeepSeek-V3.1
- 45.3 gpt-oss-120b
- 44.9 o4-mini
- 41.2
Qwen3-235B-A22B
- 39.4 GPT-4.1
- 36.4
Gemini 2.0 Flash
- 1 GPT-6.1 Sol 82%
- 2
Gemini 4 Argon 78.7%
- 3
Muse Spark 75.5%
- 4
Muse Spark 1.1 75.3%
- 5
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 74.9%
- 6
Muse Spark Open 74.2%
- 7 GPT-6.1 Terra 74.2%
- 8
Gemini 3.1 Pro 71.4%
- 9 GPT-5.4 Pro 69.2%
- 10 Claude Haiku 5.5 67.7%
- 11
Gemini 3 Pro 65.7%
- 12 GPT-5.1 thinking 63.4%
- 13 GPT-5 thinking 63.2%
- 14 o3-pro high 62.4%
- 15 Kimi K2.5 61.4%
- 16
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite 60.6%
- 17 GPT-5 mini thinking 59%
- 18 Claude Opus 4.5 thinking 59%
- 19 Claude Opus 4 thinking 58.6%
- 20 Claude Opus 4.1 thinking 57.2%
- 21 Claude Sonnet 4 thinking 57.1%
- 22 o3 high 56.6%
- 23 Claude Opus 4.6 non-thinking 56%
- 24 Kimi K2 Thinking 55.4%
- 25 Claude Sonnet 4.5 thinking 55.3%
- 26
Gemini 2.5 Pro Jun 2025 53.6%
- 27 Claude 3.7 Sonnet thinking 51.6%
- 28 GPT-5.1 Instant 51.2%
- 29 Claude Haiku 4.5 thinking 50.5%
- 30
DeepSeek-V3.1 46.1%
- 31 gpt-oss-120b 45.3%
- 32 o4-mini high 44.9%
- 33
Qwen3-235B-A22B 41.2%
- 34 GPT-4.1 39.4%
- 35
Gemini 2.0 Flash Feb 2025 36.4%
| # | Model | Score | Setting | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GPT-6.1 Sol | 82% | Sep 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 2 | | 78.7% | Sep 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 3 | | 75.5% | Apr 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 4 | | 75.3% | Jul 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 5 | | 74.9% | Oct 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 6 | | 74.2% | Oct 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 7 | GPT-6.1 Terra | 74.2% | Oct 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 8 | | 71.4% | Feb 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 9 | GPT-5.4 Pro | 69.2% | Mar 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 10 | Claude Haiku 5.5 | 67.7% | Oct 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 11 | | 65.7% | Nov 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 12 | GPT-5.1 | 63.4% | thinking | Nov 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 13 | GPT-5 | 63.2% | thinking | Aug 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 14 | o3-pro | 62.4% | high | Jun 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 15 | Kimi K2.5 | 61.4% | Jan 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 16 | | 60.6% | Mar 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 17 | GPT-5 mini | 59% | thinking | Aug 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 18 | Claude Opus 4.5 | 59% | thinking | Nov 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 19 | Claude Opus 4 | 58.6% | thinking | May 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 20 | Claude Opus 4.1 | 57.2% | thinking | Aug 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 21 | Claude Sonnet 4 | 57.1% | thinking | May 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 22 | o3 | 56.6% | high | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 23 | Claude Opus 4.6 | 56% | non-thinking | Feb 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 24 | Kimi K2 Thinking | 55.4% | Nov 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 25 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | 55.3% | thinking | Sep 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 26 | | 53.6% | Jun 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 27 | Claude 3.7 Sonnet | 51.6% | thinking | Feb 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 28 | GPT-5.1 Instant | 51.2% | Nov 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 29 | Claude Haiku 4.5 | 50.5% | thinking | Oct 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 30 | | 46.1% | Aug 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 31 | gpt-oss-120b | 45.3% | Aug 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 32 | o4-mini | 44.9% | high | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 33 | | 41.2% | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 34 | GPT-4.1 | 39.4% | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 35 | | 36.4% | Feb 2025 | Official leaderboard |
Labs report scores for 36 models in their cards. We plot every source in the charts below.
11 models have held number one since its release in Jan 2025
Lab claims count from the day the card came out, independent runs from the model’s release. We draw one row each for the benchmark’s own leaderboard and what labs claim in their cards.
Scores over time
All the scores we have, one dot each, so a model tested at several settings appears more than once.
5 labs put it in a launch post in the last six months
Launch posts from every lab that has listed it, one tick per post. Tall colored ticks include it, and short gray ones leave it out.
| Date | Launch post | Score | As the post writes it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Oct 2026 | 55.6 | MultiChallenge | |
| 19 Oct 2026 | Mercury 3 | 60.4 | MultiChallenge |
| 13 Oct 2026 | 69.8 | MultiChallenge | |
| 22 Jul 2026 | 61 | Multi-Challenge | |
| 4 Jun 2026 | 63.8 | Multi-Challenge | |
| 2 Jun 2026 | 53 | Multi-Challenge | |
| 28 Apr 2026 | 69.9 | MultiChallenge | |
| 19 Mar 2026 | 45.3 | Scale AI Multi-Challenge | |
| 11 Mar 2026 | 55.2 | Scale AI Multi-Challenge | |
| 24 Feb 2026 | 61.5 | MultiChallenge | |
| 16 Feb 2026 | 67.6 | MultiChallenge | |
| 14 Feb 2026 | 68.3 | MultiChallenge | |
| 6 Feb 2026 | 66 | MultiChallenge | |
| 23 Jan 2026 | 63.3 | MultiChallenge | |
| 18 Dec 2025 | 66.7 | MultiChallenge | |
| 15 Dec 2025 | 38.5 | Scale AI Multi Challenge | |
| 5 Dec 2025 | 62.6 | Multi Challenge | |
| 2 Dec 2025 | 75.5 | MultiChallenge acc | |
| 2 Dec 2025 | 76.6 | MultiChallenge acc | |
| 2 Dec 2025 | 77.7 | MultiChallenge acc | |
| 7 Aug 2025 | GPT-5 nano | 54.9 | Scale MultiChallenge (o3-mini grader) |
| 7 Aug 2025 | GPT-5 mini | 62.3 | Scale MultiChallenge (o3-mini grader) |
| 7 Aug 2025 | GPT-5 | 69.6 | Scale MultiChallenge** Multi-turn instruction following |
| 11 Jul 2025 | Kimi K2 | 54.1 | Multi-Challenge, Acc |
| 16 Jun 2025 | 44.7 | MultiChallenge | |
| 16 Apr 2025 | o4-mini | 43 | Scale MultiChallenge |
| 16 Apr 2025 | o3 | 56.5 | Scale MultiChallenge Multi-turn instruction following |
| 14 Apr 2025 | GPT-4.1 nano | 15 | MultiChallenge (GPT-4o grader) 15.0 (o3-mini grader 31.1) |
| 14 Apr 2025 | GPT-4.1 mini | 35.8 | MultiChallenge (GPT-4o grader) 35.8 (o3-mini grader 42.2) |
| 14 Apr 2025 | GPT-4.1 | 38.3 | MultiChallenge |
21 system cards report it, from 11 labs
Besides launch posts, we read the system cards, model cards and technical reports labs publish with a release. They report far more, including safety and frontier-risk tests.
| Date | Document | Score | As the document writes it | Section |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Oct 2026 | | 55.6 | MultiChallenge, released Q4_K_M imatrix checkpoint (Table 5). BF16 53.1 (Table 3) | Capabilities |
| 22 Jul 2026 | | 61 | Multi-Challenge (Table 3) | Capabilities |
| 9 Jun 2026 | | 63.8 | Multi-Challenge (Table 10) | Capabilities |
| 2 Jun 2026 | | 53 | Multi-Challenge, Gemini 2.5 Pro judge (Table 12, rounded) | Capabilities |
| 21 Mar 2026 | | 66.7 | MultiChallenge (Table 1) | Capabilities |
| 19 Mar 2026 | | 45.3 | Scale AI Multi-Challenge (Table 1) | Capabilities |
| 11 Mar 2026 | | 55.2 | Scale AI Multi-Challenge (Table 5) | Capabilities |
| 17 Feb 2026 | GLM-5 technical report | 64.8 | Multi Challenge, Instruction Following panel (Figure 11) | Capabilities |
| 14 Feb 2026 | | 68.3 | MultiChallenge (Table 3) | Capabilities |
| 11 Feb 2026 | | 55.7 | MultiChallenge, o3-mini judge (Table 5). PaCoRe 60.8 | Capabilities |
| 4 Feb 2026 | | 66 | MultiChallenge (Table 2) | Capabilities |
| 14 Jan 2026 | | 62.6 | MultiChallenge, SeRe (Table 2) | Capabilities |
| 23 Dec 2025 | | 38.5 | Scale AI Multi Challenge (Table 3) | Capabilities |
| 2 Dec 2025 | | 75.5 | MultiChallenge acc (Table 5) | Capabilities |
| 2 Dec 2025 | | 76.6 | MultiChallenge acc (Table 1) | Capabilities |
| 2 Dec 2025 | | 77.7 | MultiChallenge acc (Table 1) | Capabilities |
| 21 Oct 2025 | | 50.9 | MultiChallenge (Table 1) | Capabilities |
| 8 Aug 2025 | GLM-4.5 technical report | 52.8 | MultiChallenge (Table 6) | Capabilities |
| 8 Aug 2025 | GLM-4.5-Air technical report | 42.5 | MultiChallenge (Table 6) | Capabilities |
| 21 Jul 2025 | Kimi K2 technical report | 54.1 | Multi-Challenge (Acc.) (Table 3) | Capabilities |
| 16 Jun 2025 | | 44.7 | MultiChallenge, GPT-4o judge (Table 2) | Capabilities |
More in Instructions and chat
- IFEval In use Models answer about 500 prompts containing verifiable instructions such as word limits or required keywords. Code checks each instruction for strict and loose accuracy.
Gemma 4 31B IT 98.9%
- IFBench In use 58 new out-of-domain verifiable output constraints. Scored by programmatic constraint checks (strict or loose).
Nemotron-Cascade 2 30B-A3B 82.9%
- Multi-IF In use Models follow verifiable instructions over three-turn conversations in eight languages, extending IFEval. Scored by instruction accuracy at each turn. LFM3-1.7B 89.1%
- AdvancedIF In use Models respond to over 1,600 prompts with complex, multi-turn, and system-level instructions. A judge model checks each response against expert-written rubrics.
MAI-Thinking-1 85%
- IFStruct In use Models generate JSON or YAML that must follow a requested schema and phrasing constraints, without constrained decoding. A response passes only if every structural constraint holds. LFM3-1.7B 93.7%
- NV Chat Benchmark In use Models answer chat prompts from an internal NVIDIA set. The Nemotron 3.5 Super VL card labels the score an LMArena v3 proxy.
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 52.7