Top picks for Math Tutoring (2026)
Step-by-step math help that doesn't make things up. Ranked from 337 live models on the OpenRouter catalog, weighted for reasoning quality, structured output.
| # | Model | Score | In / 1M | Out / 1M | Context | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6 | 157 | $3.00 | $15.00 | 1,000,000 | Details → |
| 2 | OpenAI: GPT-5openai/gpt-5 | 155 | $1.25 | $10.00 | 400,000 | Details → |
| 3 | Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.7anthropic/claude-opus-4.7 | 155 | $5.00 | $25.00 | 1,000,000 | Details → |
| 4 | Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.8anthropic/claude-opus-4.8 | 151 | $5.00 | $25.00 | 1,000,000 | Details → |
| 5 | OpenAI: o3openai/o3 | 150 | $2.00 | $8.00 | 200,000 | Details → |
| 6 | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V3deepseek/deepseek-chat | 131 | $0.20 | $0.80 | 131,072 | Details → |
| 7 | Google: Gemini 2.5 Progoogle/gemini-2.5-pro | 128 | $1.25 | $10.00 | 1,048,576 | Details → |
| 8 | OpenAI: o4 Mini Highopenai/o4-mini-high | 126 | $1.10 | $4.40 | 200,000 | Details → |
| 9 | OpenAI: GPT-4.1openai/gpt-4.1 | 126 | $2.00 | $8.00 | 1,047,576 | Details → |
| 10 | OpenAI: o3 Mini Highopenai/o3-mini-high | 125 | $1.10 | $4.40 | 200,000 | Details → |
| 11 | Google: Gemini 2.5 Flashgoogle/gemini-2.5-flash | 124 | $0.30 | $2.50 | 1,048,576 | Details → |
| 12 | OpenAI: o3 Miniopenai/o3-mini | 124 | $1.10 | $4.40 | 200,000 | Details → |
| 13 | OpenAI: o3 Proopenai/o3-pro | 123 | $20.00 | $80.00 | 200,000 | Details → |
| 14 | Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4anthropic/claude-sonnet-4 | 117 | $3.00 | $15.00 | 1,000,000 | Details → |
| 15 | Qwen: Qwen3.7 Plusqwen/qwen3.7-plus | 116 | $0.40 | $1.60 | 1,000,000 | Details → |
How we ranked these
For Math Tutoring, we weight models on reasoning quality, structured output. Scores combine each model's public specs with independent benchmark results (Aider Polyglot coding scores, Artificial Analysis intelligence/coding/agentic indices) and live pricing. See full methodology →
About Math Tutoring
Math tutoring is an AI task where a model walks through mathematical problems step-by-step, showing work and reasoning at each stage. You need this when you're learning concepts, checking homework, or debugging where you went wrong in a calculation. Good models at this task break problems into smaller steps, explain the "why" behind each operation, and catch their own errors when reviewing their work. Bad models skip steps, hallucinate formulas, or confidently state wrong answers. The main tradeoff: reasoning-focused models like o1 are slower and more expensive per query than base models, but they make fewer mathematical mistakes on complex problems, so you'll actually save time by not chasing phantom solutions.
When to use: Use this when you're stuck on a math problem and need to understand how to solve it, not just get an answer, or when you want to verify that your own step-by-step work is correct before submitting it.
Common questions
What is the best AI model for teaching me math step-by-step without making errors?
OpenAI's o1 and o1-mini are purpose-built for reasoning-heavy tasks like mathematics and show their work transparently. For faster, cheaper tutoring on foundational topics, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4o perform well, but you should spot-check critical steps since they can occasionally skip details or miscalculate under time pressure.
How much does it cost to get unlimited math tutoring from an AI model?
A ChatGPT Plus subscription ($20/month) or Claude Pro ($20/month) provides unlimited queries for most use cases. If you need o1's reasoning capabilities, that's typically available through ChatGPT Plus; for heavier institutional use, per-token API pricing starts at $0.015 per 1K input tokens, making a typical tutoring session cost between $0.10 and $0.50.