# iMocha vs Lightcast Open Skills: which do AI models recommend for skills intelligence, September 2026

HR AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, Skills intelligence. Three of twelve models named iMocha first on the direct prompt; zero named Lightcast Open Skills. Page: https://hr-ai-index.com/performance/skills-intelligence/imocha-vs-lightcast-open-skills/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iMocha | 9% | #3 of 16 | 0% | 18 | 11 of 12 |
| Lightcast Open Skills | 9% | #4 of 16 | 8% | 12 | 10 of 12 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Grok 4.1 Fast: imocha first (first choices: TalentGuard, iMocha) (alternatives: Fuel50)
- Mistral Small: imocha first (first choices: TalentGuard, iMocha) (alternatives: Bryq, INOP)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: imocha first (first choices: iMocha) (alternatives: MuchSkills, Skills Base, TalentGuard)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither first, one named (first choices: TalentGuard) (alternatives: Amplemarket, iMocha)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither first, one named (first choices: TalentGuard) (alternatives: INOP, SkillPanel, Skills Base, iMocha)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither first, one named (first choices: TalentGuard) (alternatives: Criteria Corp, Engagedly, iMocha)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Eightfold AI) (alternatives: Clad.io, DeepSkill, Gloat, Lightcast Open Skills)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither named (first choices: Eightfold AI, SkillPanel) (alternatives: Fuel50, Retrain.ai, Workday Skills Cloud)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither named (first choices: Career Bird) (alternatives: Docebo, Fuel50, Workera)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither named (first choices: Fuel50, TalentGuard) (alternatives: MuchSkills, Skills Base)
- Kimi K2: neither named (first choices: TalentGuard) (alternatives: 365Talents, Engagedly, Fuel50, TechWolf)
- MiniMax M2.5: neither named (first choices: TalentGuard) (alternatives: 365Talents, Gloat)

## What the models said about iMocha

- "Start with iMocha for its mid-market focus and comprehensive feature set" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, direct prompt, first choice)
- "Start with TalentGuard or iMocha for most mid-market B2B" (Grok 4.1 Fast, direct prompt, first choice)
- "Option A: iMocha (Best overall for B2B Tech & Skills Validation)" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, paraphrase prompt, first choice)

## What the models said about Lightcast Open Skills

- "Enterprise platforms like ... Lightcast, etc. tend to be stronger but usually not the best fit for a tight budget." (GPT-5.4 mini, budget prompt, soft negative)
- "The Industry Standard: Lightcast Skills Taxonomy (formerly Emsi Burning Glass)... The absolute gold standard in labor market data." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, paraphrase prompt, first choice)
- "I'd recommend Lightcast Open Skills as the skills taxonomy paired with TechWolf as the inference tool" (Grok 4.1 Fast, paraphrase prompt, first choice)
- "I'd usually recommend Lightcast Skills Taxonomy + a Lightcast-based inference layer as the default choice" (GPT-5.4 mini, paraphrase prompt, first choice)

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.