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Skills intelligence · November 2026 Edition
MuchSkills vs Lightcast Open Skills
Four of fourteen models named MuchSkills first on the direct prompt; zero named Lightcast Open Skills. MuchSkills was named by twelve of the fourteen models and Lightcast Open Skills by twelve and both carry 18 labels, so the shares below are directly comparable.
Named in four categories this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share9%9%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate0%11%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#4#5A position in a field of 20; printed, not drawn.
Labels1818Equal, which is what makes the shares comparable.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, MuchSkills reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.365Talents was named alongside these two in ten of the fourteen direct answers. Skills Base vs MuchSkills · Skills Base vs Lightcast Open Skills · TalentGuard vs MuchSkills
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the skills intelligence page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
MuchSkillsFirst choices, of fourteen modelsLightcast Open Skills
Direct401 against Lightcast Open Skills
Paraphrase04
Comparative00
Budget-constrained001 against Lightcast Open Skills
Scale-constrained00
Negative00
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where MuchSkills and Lightcast Open Skills stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | |||||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | |||||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | |||
| Perplexity Sonar | | |||||
| Grok 4.20 | | | | |||
| Mistral Small | | |||||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | ||
| Llama 4 Maverick | ||||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | |||||
| Kimi K2 | | | ||||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | |||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | ||||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | ||||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | |
MuchSkills Lightcast Open Skills first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, MuchSkills on the left and Lightcast Open Skills on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where MuchSkills and Lightcast Open Skills stood in it.
MuchSkills first, Lightcast Open Skills not the choice
4 of 14 modelsLightcast Open Skills was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Grok 4.20MuchSkills alternatives: 365Talents, AG5, Skills Base
Mistral SmallBeamery, MuchSkills alternatives: AG5, Degreed, Workday Skills Cloud
DeepSeek V4 FlashMuchSkills, TalentGuard alternatives: 365Talents, Disprz, Skills Base
Kimi K2MuchSkills, TalentGuard alternatives: 365Talents, Skills Base
Neither was the first choice, one was named
6 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Claude Haiku 4.5TalentGuard alternatives: Fuel50, MuchSkills, Workday Skills Cloud, iMocha
GPT-5.4 mini365Talents alternatives: Fuel50, MuchSkills
Gemini 3.5 FlashRetrain.ai alternatives: 365Talents, DevSkiller, Gloat, MuchSkills, iMocha
GLM 4.7 FlashXSkills Base alternatives: 365Talents, AG5, MuchSkills, iMocha
MiniMax M2.5TalentGuard alternatives: 365Talents, MuchSkills, iMocha
Muse Glimmer 30BTalentGuard alternatives: 365Talents, Cognisess, Disprz, Fuel50, MuchSkills
Neither was named
4 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Perplexity SonarTalentGuard alternatives: Skills Base, iMocha
Llama 4 Maverick365Talents
Qwen 3.7 Flash365Talents alternatives: Cognisess, Disprz, Skills Base
GPT-6 LunaSkillPanel alternatives: Fuel50, Skills Base
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
MuchSkills leads by three points.
MuchSkills7%#2 of 13Lightcast Open Skills3%#– of 13Mid-marketThe figures above
Level: the same share of first choices.
MuchSkills9%#4 of 20Lightcast Open Skills9%#5 of 20Enterprise
The order flips: Lightcast Open Skills leads at enterprise.
Lightcast Open Skills4%#4 of 16MuchSkills0%#– of 16What the models said about MuchSkills
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Three of four in this category shown.
“or MuchSkills if you want rapid adoption, beautiful visualization, and practicality at a mid-market budget” DeepSeek V4 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“For a balance of AI-driven insights and ease of use, MuchSkills and Beamery are top choices.” Mistral Small · direct prompt · first choice
“I'd suggest starting with TalentGuard or MuchSkills as your top choices” Kimi K2 · direct prompt · first choice
What the models said about Lightcast Open Skills
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.
“Avoid These if Budget is a Constraint ... Lightcast ... priced via quote only and typically target enterprises” DeepSeek V4 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“Avoid for mid-market: ... or Lightcast—they're often overkill” Grok 4.20 · direct prompt · hard negative
“my default for a mid-sized B2B company would be Lightcast as the external reference taxonomy, with a small company-specific layer” GPT-6 Luna · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Skills taxonomy: Lightcast Open Skills as the reference taxonomy, customized to your roles and terminology.” Perplexity Sonar · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Best Overall for Data & API-First Integration: Lightcast (Skills API & Open Taxonomy)” Gemini 3.5 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
Also compared
Skills Base vs MuchSkillsSkills Base vs Lightcast Open SkillsTalentGuard vs MuchSkillsTalentGuard vs Lightcast Open Skills365Talents vs MuchSkills365Talents vs Lightcast Open SkillsMuchSkills vs TechWolfLightcast Open Skills vs TechWolfAll fifteen head-to-head pages and the full skills intelligence standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.