LMArena vs Poe (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Poe grades higher than LMArena: 3.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Poe grades higher on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Poe
One app for chatting with AI models from many different labs
Which one is for you
Pick LMArena if
- Fits if you are choosing a model and want to see answers from several at once
- Works for people who follow community-voted AI rankings
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a daily assistant with memory and files, as it is built for comparison
- Not for you if you mind your votes being public, as they feed the leaderboards
- Watch out: the cost and any limits could not be confirmed from the pages read
- Watch out: in Battle mode models stay anonymous until you vote, and an account may be needed for some features
Pick Poe if
- Fits if you want to compare models from many labs without paying each one
- Works for developers who want one API key for models from many labs
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you dislike meters, as everything is counted in compute points and extra points are sold on top
- Skip it if you want to know the free limits first, because Poe doesn't publish them
- Tight if you chat in bursts, as the entry plan's 10 thousand points come by the day, not as a monthly pool
- Pricey if you need a monthly pool: 660 thousand points are $19.99 a month, and the top plan is $249.99, before regional taxes
- Too light for voice or agents, as the listing shows no voice mode and no tool use
How we grade them
| 2.2GPALMArenaFair | 3.4GPAPoeVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CThe listing calls it free, but no price page exists and the homepage sits behind a bot check, so the cost is not confirmed. That leaves it in the middle. | AThe entry plan is $4.99 a month, or $49.99 for the year, on the US App Store — about a third of this category's middle price, and it opens models from many labs. The catch is that a real monthly pool, 660 thousand points, is $19.99. |
| Free plan and trial | CListed as free, but the terms say an account may be required for some features, and no usage limits are published. | CA free account can chat on a smaller points allowance, but Poe's plans page never says how many points that is. An allowance you can't see the size of is one you'll walk into. |
| Features | CBattle, Side by Side and Direct modes, leaderboards, image and video generation. A focused tool for comparing models, not a daily assistant. | BModels from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and other labs on one sign-in, several bots answering in one thread, image and video from FLUX, Ideogram, Veo and Runway, web search, and your own bots with knowledge bases. No voice mode on the listing and no agent or tool use, and every bit of it is metered in points. |
| Ease of use | BA website where you type a prompt and pick the better answer. No store rating is on record. | A4.7 from about 53,800 App Store ratings. Pick a bot and type. The only thing to get your head round is points, since every chat draws on the same pool. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only. The pages name no apps and no integrations. | AWeb, Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, plus an OpenAI-compatible API that reaches hundreds of models on one key and plugs into coding tools like Cursor, Cline and Continue. That's the full set. |
| Best for | comparing AI models side by side and voting | comparing many AI models on one account |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: LMArena and Poe. How we grade
Price against what you get
LMArena has no paid plan and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Poe starts at $4.17 a month and scores 3.7.
Poe scores higher, and starts $4.17 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI assistants on the chart, none scores higher than LMArena for less, and none scores higher than Poe for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- LMArena also covers image generation and video generation.
At a glance
| LMArena | Poe | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $4.17 per month, billed yearly ($49.99 a year); $4.99 billed monthly |
| Free plan | None | Free accounts can chat with a smaller allowance of compute points than subscribers. Poe's plans page does not state the size of the free allowance. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Arena Intelligence Inc. | Quora, Inc. |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | poe.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 10, 2026 |
Worth knowing
LMArena
- The pricing could not be confirmed: the homepage sits behind a bot check and no pricing page exists, so cost and any usage limits are not verified here.
- In Battle mode the models are anonymous until you vote, and your votes become part of the public leaderboards.
- The terms say an account may be required to access certain features of the service.
- The vendor's pages describe a web product and name no desktop or mobile apps.
Poe
- Usage is metered in compute points, from 10 thousand a day on the lowest plan to 8.25 million a month on the highest; add-on points are sold separately.
- The plans page shows US dollars and says the final price may vary with regional taxes and currency conversion; read from India it prices the same plans in rupees.
- The plans page does not say how many points a free account receives.
Key features
LMArena
- Battle mode
- Two anonymous models answer the same prompt and you vote for the better reply. Pre-release models can show up under codenames, according to the FAQ.
- Side by Side and Direct modes
- Side by Side lets you pick two models to compare, and Direct Mode lets you chat with one model of your choice. The FAQ describes how votes are used in each.
- Public leaderboards
- Rankings come from votes using the Bradley-Terry rating system and cover categories such as text, WebDev, vision, document, search, image and video.
- Image and video generation
- The site lists use cases for generating images and videos, with matching text-to-image, image edit and video leaderboards, and a help article on Video Arena.
- Agent and web app building
- The navigation lists an Agent leaderboard and use cases for building apps and websites and completing multi-step tasks.
Poe
- Many models, one account
- Reaches models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and other labs, plus image and video generators, with one sign-in and one points balance.
- Multi-bot chat
- Compare answers from several models and combine bots for a task inside a single chat thread. Chats can be private or shared as a group chat.
- Image and video generation
- Creates images and video with generators such as FLUX, Ideogram, Veo and Runway from inside the same app.
- Custom bots
- Build and share your own bots, with custom knowledge bases if needed. Poe's App Store listing cites more than 1 million custom bots.
- Web search
- A search mode returns answers drawn from the web, and bots can search for current news.
- Poe API
- An OpenAI-compatible endpoint reaches hundreds of models and bots with one key. Subscribers spend their existing points on it at no additional cost.
Plans
LMArena
Pricing could not be confirmed. See arena.ai.
Poe
Free$0
A smaller points allowance than subscribers get, across free and subscription bots.
10 thousand points/day$4.99
per month, or $49.99 per year ($4.17 a month)
The entry plan, listed as Basic on the App Store: more messages, more models and each bot's maximum input size and chat history.
660 thousand points/month$19.99
per month, or $199.99 per year ($16.67 a month)
A monthly pool of 660 thousand points to spend across any model or bot.
1.65 million points/month$49.99
per month, or $499.99 per year ($41.67 a month)
A monthly pool of 1.65 million points to spend across any model or bot.
3.3 million points/month$99.99
per month, or $999.99 per year ($83.33 a month)
A monthly pool of 3.3 million points to spend across any model or bot.
8.25 million points/month$249.99
per month, or $2,499.99 per year ($208.33 a month)
The largest pool: 8.25 million points a month across any model or bot.
Ways to pay less
LMArena
No public discounts listed.
Poe
- Annual discount
Save 17% with yearly billing
Poe's plans page marks yearly billing as saving 17% against monthly billing: the lowest plan is $49.99 a year, which the page gives as $4.17 a month, against $4.99 billed monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, LMArena or Poe?
As of Nov 13, 2026, LMArena has no price we could confirm, and Poe starts at $4.17 per month, billed yearly ($49.99 a year); $4.99 billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, LMArena or Poe?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both LMArena and Poe have a free plan.
Which platforms do LMArena and Poe run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Poe lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.