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Skills intelligence · November 2026 Edition
TalentGuard vs Lightcast Open Skills
Six of fourteen models named TalentGuard first on the direct prompt; zero named Lightcast Open Skills. TalentGuard was named by eight of the fourteen models and Lightcast Open Skills by twelve and TalentGuard carries 12 labels and Lightcast Open Skills 18, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in three categories this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share15%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#2#5A position in a field of 20; printed, not drawn.
Labels1218A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, TalentGuard reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.MuchSkills was named alongside these two in ten of the fourteen direct answers. Skills Base vs TalentGuard · Skills Base vs Lightcast Open Skills · TalentGuard vs 365Talents
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.
TalentGuardFirst choices, of fourteen modelsLightcast Open Skills
Direct601 against Lightcast Open Skills
Paraphrase14
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 TalentGuard 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 | | |
TalentGuard Lightcast Open Skills first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, TalentGuard on the left and Lightcast Open Skills on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where TalentGuard and Lightcast Open Skills stood in it.
TalentGuard first, Lightcast Open Skills not the choice
6 of 14 modelsLightcast Open Skills was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Claude Haiku 4.5TalentGuard alternatives: Fuel50, MuchSkills, Workday Skills Cloud, iMocha
Perplexity SonarTalentGuard alternatives: Skills Base, iMocha
DeepSeek V4 FlashMuchSkills, TalentGuard alternatives: 365Talents, Disprz, Skills Base
Kimi K2MuchSkills, TalentGuard alternatives: 365Talents, Skills Base
MiniMax M2.5TalentGuard alternatives: 365Talents, MuchSkills, iMocha
Muse Glimmer 30BTalentGuard alternatives: 365Talents, Cognisess, Disprz, Fuel50, MuchSkills
Neither was named
8 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.GPT-5.4 mini365Talents alternatives: Fuel50, MuchSkills
Gemini 3.5 FlashRetrain.ai alternatives: 365Talents, DevSkiller, Gloat, MuchSkills, iMocha
Grok 4.20MuchSkills alternatives: 365Talents, AG5, Skills Base
Mistral SmallBeamery, MuchSkills alternatives: AG5, Degreed, Workday Skills Cloud
Llama 4 Maverick365Talents
Qwen 3.7 Flash365Talents alternatives: Cognisess, Disprz, Skills Base
GLM 4.7 FlashXSkills Base alternatives: 365Talents, AG5, MuchSkills, iMocha
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
Lightcast Open Skills leads by three points.
Lightcast Open Skills3%#– of 13TalentGuard0%#– of 13Mid-marketThe figures above
The order flips: TalentGuard leads at mid-market.
TalentGuard15%#2 of 20Lightcast Open Skills9%#5 of 20Enterprise
TalentGuard is not named for this buyer.
Lightcast Open Skills4%#4 of 16TalentGuard—not namedWhat the models said about TalentGuard
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Two of two in this category shown.
“TalentGuard is best suited for mid-market companies that need structured competency frameworks and career pathing without the enterprise complexity of Eightfold or Gloat.” Claude Haiku 4.5 · direct prompt · first choice
“TalentGuard appears to be purpose-built for your segment, offering structured frameworks without the complexity typically seen in enterprise solutions” MiniMax M2.5 · 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 TalentGuardSkills Base vs Lightcast Open SkillsTalentGuard vs 365TalentsTalentGuard vs MuchSkillsTalentGuard vs TechWolf365Talents vs Lightcast Open SkillsMuchSkills vs Lightcast Open SkillsLightcast 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.