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Skills intelligence · September 2026 Edition
Lightcast Open Skills vs Eightfold AI
Zero of twelve models named Lightcast Open Skills first on the direct prompt; two named Eightfold AI. Lightcast Open Skills was named by ten of the twelve models and Eightfold AI by twelve and Lightcast Open Skills carries 12 labels and Eightfold AI 27, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
Named in eleven categories this edition.
First-choice share9%4%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate8%59%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#4#7A position in a field of 16; printed, not drawn.
Labels1227A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Lightcast Open Skills reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.TalentGuard was named alongside these two in nine of the twelve direct answers. TalentGuard vs Lightcast Open Skills · TalentGuard vs Eightfold AI · Skills Base vs Lightcast Open Skills
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; 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 twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Lightcast Open SkillsFirst choices, of twelve modelsEightfold AI
Direct027 against Eightfold AI
Paraphrase404 against Eightfold AI
Comparative02
Budget-constrained001 against Lightcast Open Skills · 3 against Eightfold AI
Scale-constrained002 against Eightfold AI
Negative00
Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.
Every model, every framing
The seventy-two answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Lightcast Open Skills and Eightfold AI 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 4.1 Fast | | | | |||
| Mistral Small | ||||||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | |||
| Llama 4 Maverick | ||||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | |||
| Kimi K2 | | | ||||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | ||||||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | |
Lightcast Open Skills Eightfold AI first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Lightcast Open Skills on the left and Eightfold AI on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Lightcast Open Skills and Eightfold AI stood in it.
Eightfold AI first, Lightcast Open Skills an alternative
2 of 12 modelsLightcast Open Skills was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GPT-5.4 miniEightfold AI, SkillPanel alternatives: Fuel50, Retrain.ai, Workday Skills Cloud
Qwen 3.7 FlashEightfold AI alternatives: Clad.io, DeepSkill, Gloat, Lightcast Open Skills
Neither was named
10 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5TalentGuard alternatives: Amplemarket, iMocha
Gemini 3.5 FlashCareer Bird alternatives: Docebo, Fuel50, Workera
Perplexity SonarTalentGuard alternatives: INOP, SkillPanel, Skills Base, iMocha
Grok 4.1 FastTalentGuard, iMocha alternatives: Fuel50
Mistral SmallTalentGuard, iMocha alternatives: Bryq, INOP
DeepSeek V4 FlashFuel50, TalentGuard alternatives: MuchSkills, Skills Base
Llama 4 MaverickTalentGuard alternatives: Criteria Corp, Engagedly, iMocha
Kimi K2TalentGuard alternatives: 365Talents, Engagedly, Fuel50, TechWolf
GLM 4.7 FlashXiMocha alternatives: MuchSkills, Skills Base, TalentGuard
MiniMax M2.5TalentGuard alternatives: 365Talents, Gloat
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 twelve points.
Lightcast Open Skills12%#– of 10Eightfold AI0%#10 of 10Mid-marketThe figures above
Lightcast Open Skills leads by four points.
Lightcast Open Skills9%#4 of 16Eightfold AI4%#7 of 16Enterprise
The order flips: Eightfold AI leads at enterprise.
Eightfold AI33%#1 of 10Lightcast Open Skills9%#4 of 10What the models said about Lightcast Open Skills
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of five in this category shown.
“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
What the models said about Eightfold AI
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Two of two in this category shown.
“Gloat and Eightfold AI ... bring enterprise-grade complexity, cost, and lengthy implementations that usually overkill mid-market budgets” DeepSeek V4 Flash · direct prompt · hard negative
“The Best All-Rounder (AI & Talent Acquisition) Eightfold AI Eightfold is widely considered the leader in the skills-based movement” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
Also compared
TalentGuard vs Lightcast Open SkillsTalentGuard vs Eightfold AISkills Base vs Lightcast Open SkillsSkills Base vs Eightfold AIiMocha vs Lightcast Open SkillsiMocha vs Eightfold AILightcast Open Skills vs TechWolfLightcast Open Skills vs 365TalentsLightcast Open Skills vs Fuel50TechWolf vs Eightfold AI365Talents vs Eightfold AIEightfold AI vs Fuel50All twenty-eight 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.