WritingBench
Models complete 1,000 real-world writing requests across 6 domains and 100 subdomains. A judge model scores each reply on five query-specific criteria.
The first release had 1,239 queries, and a later update cut it to 1,000, so older scores differ.
In the authors’ words
Recent advancements in large language models (LLMs) have significantly enhanced text generation capabilities, yet evaluating their performance in generative writing remains a challenge. Existing benchmarks primarily focus on generic text generation or limited in writing tasks, failing to capture the diverse requirements of high-quality written contents across various domains. To bridge this gap, we present WritingBench, a comprehensive benchmark designed to evaluate LLMs across 6 core writing domains and 100 subdomains. We further propose a query-dependent evaluation framework that empowers LLMs to dynamically generate instance-specific assessment criteria. This framework is complemented by a fine-tuned critic model for criteria-aware scoring, enabling evaluations in style, format and length. The framework's validity is further demonstrated by its data curation capability, which enables a 7B-parameter model to outperform the performance of GPT-4o in writing. We open-source the benchmark, along with evaluation tools and modular framework components, to advance the development of LLMs in writing.
- Level
- University Undergraduates and entry-level professionals
- 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-5 leads with 83.9 among models released by Nov 2025
Best score per entry from the benchmark's own leaderboard, read on 2 Nov 2026. Where a model ran with several settings or harnesses, we keep its best. Every run is in the next chart. Names in gray aren't in our model list: fine-tunes, agent systems, products and older models. They don't count toward leaders.
The newest model with a score here came out in Nov 2025, and nobody has tested a newer one. Among the 20 highest-ranked models on the capability index, these have no score yet:
- GPT-6 Astra
- Claude Opus 5.5
- GPT-6.1 Terra
- GPT-6.1 Sol
- and 16 more
- 83.9 GPT-5
- 82.3
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking
- 81.3 Kimi K2
- 80.7 Claude Sonnet 4.5
- 80.5 o3
- 80.3
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct
- 80.3
Qwen3-Max
- 79.8 Claude Opus 4.5
- 79.3 doubao-seed-1-6-thinking-250715
- 79.3
Gemini 2.5 Pro
- 79.0 nanbeige4-3b-thinking-2511
- 78.9
DeepSeek-R1
- 78.8
Seed1.6-Thinking
- 78.5
Gemini 3 Pro
- 78.3
Doubao-Seed-1.6
- 77.1 Claude Haiku 4.5
- 76.4 Claude Opus 4.1
- 75.1 Claude Opus 4
- 74.7
Qwen3-235B-A22B
- 74.7 Grok 4
- 74.1 Claude Sonnet 4
- 73.4 Claude 3.7 Sonnet
- 73.2 chatgpt-4o-latest
- 72.9 o4-mini
- 72.4
QwQ-32B
- 72.1
DeepSeek-R1
- 71.7 Grok 3
- 70.9 GPT-4.1
- 69.4
DeepSeek-V3
- 68.0 o3-mini
- 67.6 GPT-4.5
- 66.8
Gemini 2.0 Flash
- 66.8 qwen-max
- 63.4 o1-preview
- 59.2
DeepSeek-V3
- 58.8
Gemini 1.5 Pro
- 57.8
Qwen2.5-72B
- 56.4 GPT-4o mini
- 54.4
Mistral Large 2
- 53.8 Claude 3.5 Sonnet
- 52.5
Llama 4 Maverick
- 52.0
Llama 4 Scout
- 49.5
Qwen2.5-7B
- 49.1 Claude 3.5 Haiku
- 48.0
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct
- 45.1
Qwen3-0.6B
- 40.2
Llama 3.1-8B
- 38.1
Llama 3.2 3B
- 28.7
Llama 3.2 1B
- 1 GPT-5 83.9
- 2
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking Jul 2025 82.3
- 3 Kimi K2 Jul 2025 81.3
- 4 Claude Sonnet 4.5 80.7
- 5 o3 80.5
- 6
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct Jul 2025 80.3
- 7
Qwen3-Max 80.3
- 8 Claude Opus 4.5 79.8
- 9 doubao-seed-1-6-thinking-250715 79.3
- 10
Gemini 2.5 Pro Jun 2025 79.3
- 11 nanbeige4-3b-thinking-2511 79.0
- 12
DeepSeek-R1 May 2025 78.9
- 13
Seed1.6-Thinking 78.8
- 14
Gemini 3 Pro 78.5
- 15
Doubao-Seed-1.6 78.3
- 16 Claude Haiku 4.5 77.1
- 17 Claude Opus 4.1 76.4
- 18 Claude Opus 4 thinking 75.1
- 19
Qwen3-235B-A22B thinking 74.7
- 20 Grok 4 74.7
- 21 Claude Sonnet 4 74.1
- 22 Claude 3.7 Sonnet thinking 73.4
- 23 chatgpt-4o-latest 73.2
- 24 o4-mini 72.9
- 25
QwQ-32B 72.4
- 26
DeepSeek-R1 72.1
- 27 Grok 3 71.7
- 28 GPT-4.1 70.9
- 29
DeepSeek-V3 Mar 2025 69.4
- 30 o3-mini 68.0
- 31 GPT-4.5 67.6
- 32
Gemini 2.0 Flash Feb 2025 66.8
- 33 qwen-max 66.8
- 34 o1-preview 63.4
- 35
DeepSeek-V3 59.2
- 36
Gemini 1.5 Pro Sep 2024 58.8
- 37
Qwen2.5-72B 57.8
- 38 GPT-4o mini 56.4
- 39
Mistral Large 2 Nov 2024 54.4
- 40 Claude 3.5 Sonnet 53.8
- 41
Llama 4 Maverick 52.5
- 42
Llama 4 Scout 52.0
- 43
Qwen2.5-7B 49.5
- 44 Claude 3.5 Haiku 49.1
- 45
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct 48.0
- 46
Qwen3-0.6B thinking 45.1
- 47
Llama 3.1-8B 40.2
- 48
Llama 3.2 3B 38.1
- 49
Llama 3.2 1B 28.7
| # | Entry | Score | Setting | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GPT-5 | 83.9 | Aug 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 2 | | 82.3 | Jul 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 3 | Kimi K2 Jul 2025 | 81.3 | Jul 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 4 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | 80.7 | Sep 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 5 | o3 | 80.5 | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 6 | | 80.3 | Jul 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 7 | | 80.3 | Sep 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 8 | Claude Opus 4.5 | 79.8 | Nov 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 9 | doubao-seed-1-6-thinking-250715 | 79.3 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 10 | | 79.3 | Jun 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 11 | nanbeige4-3b-thinking-2511 | 79.0 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 12 | | 78.9 | May 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 13 | | 78.8 | Jun 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 14 | | 78.5 | Nov 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 15 | | 78.3 | Jun 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 16 | Claude Haiku 4.5 | 77.1 | Oct 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 17 | Claude Opus 4.1 | 76.4 | Aug 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 18 | Claude Opus 4 | 75.1 | thinking | May 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 19 | | 74.7 | thinking | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 20 | Grok 4 | 74.7 | Jul 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 21 | Claude Sonnet 4 | 74.1 | May 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 22 | Claude 3.7 Sonnet | 73.4 | thinking | Feb 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 23 | chatgpt-4o-latest | 73.2 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 24 | o4-mini | 72.9 | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 25 | | 72.4 | Mar 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 26 | | 72.1 | Jan 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 27 | Grok 3 | 71.7 | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 28 | GPT-4.1 | 70.9 | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 29 | | 69.4 | Mar 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 30 | o3-mini | 68.0 | Jan 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 31 | GPT-4.5 | 67.6 | Feb 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 32 | | 66.8 | Feb 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 33 | qwen-max | 66.8 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 34 | o1-preview | 63.4 | Sep 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 35 | | 59.2 | Dec 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 36 | | 58.8 | Sep 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 37 | | 57.8 | Sep 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 38 | GPT-4o mini | 56.4 | Jul 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 39 | | 54.4 | Nov 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 40 | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | 53.8 | Jun 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 41 | | 52.5 | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 42 | | 52.0 | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 43 | | 49.5 | Sep 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 44 | Claude 3.5 Haiku | 49.1 | Oct 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 45 | | 48.0 | Dec 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 46 | | 45.1 | thinking | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 47 | | 40.2 | Jul 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 48 | | 38.1 | Sep 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 49 | | 28.7 | Sep 2024 | Official leaderboard |
Labs report scores for 14 models in their cards. We plot every source in the charts below.
Scores at each effort level
Models the leaderboard ran at two or more effort levels. We don’t have enough cost data here to say what the extra effort costs.
5 models have held number one since its release in Mar 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.
Labs headline it less often now, last in Jul 2026
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Jul 2026 | 83.8 | Writing Bench | |
| 6 Mar 2026 | Sarvam 105B | 80.5 | Writing Bench (Hugging Face card table, official critic model) |
| 31 Dec 2025 | 7.51 | Writing Bench | |
| 23 Sep 2025 | 86.7 | WritingBench | |
| 22 Sep 2025 | 82.6 | WritingBench | |
| 11 Sep 2025 | 84.6 | WritingBench | |
| 9 Sep 2025 | 8.65 | WritingBench (critic-score, maximum 10) | |
| 10 Aug 2025 | 8.56 | WritingBench | |
| 25 Jul 2025 | 88.3 | WritingBench | |
| 29 Apr 2025 | 8.03 | WritingBench |
11 system cards report it, from 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Jan 2026 | | 7.51 | Writing Bench, score out of 10 (Table 6) | Capabilities |
| 26 Nov 2025 | | 86.7 | WritingBench (Table 6) | Capabilities |
| 22 Sep 2025 | | 82.6 | WritingBench, Instruct (Table 4). Thinking 85.5 (Table 5) | Capabilities |
| 2 Sep 2025 | | 8.56 | WritingBench, 10-point scale (Table 1) | Capabilities |
| 14 May 2025 | | 7.59 | WritingBench, thinking mode (Table 17). Non-thinking 7.15 (Table 18) | Capabilities |
| 14 May 2025 | | 7.35 | WritingBench, thinking mode (Table 17). Non-thinking 6.85 (Table 18) | Capabilities |
| 14 May 2025 | | 7.9 | WritingBench, thinking mode (Table 13). Non-thinking 7.54 (Table 14) | Capabilities |
| 14 May 2025 | | 7.7 | WritingBench, thinking mode (Table 15). Non-thinking 7.22 (Table 16) | Capabilities |
| 14 May 2025 | | 8.03 | WritingBench, thinking mode (Table 11). Non-thinking 7.70 (Table 12) | Capabilities |
| 14 May 2025 | | 7.8 | WritingBench, thinking mode (Table 15). Non-thinking 7.24 (Table 16) | Capabilities |
| 14 May 2025 | | 7.02 | WritingBench, thinking mode (Table 19). Non-thinking 6.54 (Table 20) | Capabilities |
More in Writing and taste
- Design Bench (Moonshot) In use Models make graphic designs from direct prompts or few-shot reference images. An automated grader rates the results as Elo scores. Kimi K3.1 Pro 957
- Creative Writing (MiniMax in-house) Only in system cards Models write creative pieces for real Hailuo AI user requests. Automatic assessments score the writing.
MiniMax-Text-01 81.3%
- DeepSeek Chinese functional writing evaluation Only in system cards Models answer 3,170 everyday Chinese writing prompts such as reports, emails and speeches. Pairwise judging against a baseline model gives a win rate.
DeepSeek-V4-Pro 62.6%
- Slide generation human evaluation (Z.ai) Only in system cards People compare HTML slide decks from two models on content, layout and visual quality. Metric is overall win rate. GLM-5 67.5%
- Task-dependent output homogenization evaluation Only in system cards Models answer prompts several times. A judge scores functional diversity where it is wanted and consistency where one answer is right.
Muse Spark 0.21
- DeepSeek Chinese creative writing evaluation Only in system cards Models write Chinese fiction, prose, poetry and lyrics for 2,837 prompts. Pairwise judging gives separate win rates for instruction following and writing quality.