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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. Hy4 Preview vs Pony Alpha
Updated Aug 2026

Hy4 Preview vs Pony Alpha

Pony Alpha is cheaper than Hy4 Preview at $0/M vs $0.834/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
Hy4 Preview
Loading the build
Pony Alpha

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

22 prompts
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    Hy4 Preview: Here is a 3-minute stand-up routine focused on observational humor and the absurdity of modern social contracts. Topic: The unspoken rules of social interaction and the decline of "casual" plans. Tone: Conversational, slightly exasperated, energetic. (Walk up to mic, adjust height, take a breath.

    Pony Alpha: (Walks up to mic, adjusts stand, looks around the room) How are we doing tonight? Good? I’m at that weird age where my body is actively betraying me. I’m not old, but I’m definitely… used. You know? I made a loud noise yesterday, just bending over to tie my shoe.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    Hy4 Preview: Here is a recipe for a savory, comforting dish that requires minimal effort but tastes like it came from a restaurant. Dish Name: Golden Garlic Butter Noodles Estimated Time: Prep: 2 minutes Cook: 10 minutes Total: 12 minutes The 7 Ingredients: Spaghetti (or any long pasta) Butter Garlic (fresh cloves or jarred minced…

    Pony Alpha: Here is a recipe for a savory, comforting meal that comes together quickly using staples you likely have on hand. Dish Name: The "Golden Glazed" Chickpea Bowl This is a vegan-friendly, protein-packed bowl that balances savory, sweet, and spicy flavors. It works perfectly as a main course or a hearty side dish.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    Hy4 Preview: This is a defining moment for the company’s integrity, long-term viability, and moral compass. The core tension is between short-term financial protection and long-term trust, legal exposure, and—most importantly—patient safety. Ethically and legally, the company has a duty to act on credible safety signals.

    Pony Alpha: This is a defining moment for my leadership and the company. The pressure from the board to "wait for more data" is a trap that has destroyed pharmaceutical companies in the past (e.g., Merck with Vioxx). Hiding a safety signal to manipulate stock price is securities fraud and criminal negligence.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Hy4 Preview: Here are three explanations of how a large language model learns and generates text, each tailored to a specific audience. The Experienced Software Engineer Focus: Architecture, lossy compression, and the "emergent" nature of scale.

    Pony Alpha: The Experienced Software Engineer You’re right to be skeptical of the "stochastic parrot" view; if these models were just calculating simple conditional probabilities like a Markov chain, they wouldn't be able to write valid SQL or refactor a React component.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    Hy4 Preview: Setting: A dimly lit tavern called The Syntax Error. PIRATE: (Slamming a tankard of grog on the table) Arrr, me hearties! I hear tell of this new "AI" beastie. Is it like a kraken? Can ye make it swab the deck or find me buried treasure? KNIGHT: (Polishing his visor with a gauntlet) Nay, pirate.

    Pony Alpha: The Setting: A dimly lit tavern that exists outside of time. A laptop sits on a sticky table amidst a tankard of ale and a gauntlet. The Characters: Captain Ironbeard: A gritty pirate. Sir Reginald: A chivalrous medieval knight. Zack: A 90s hacker wearing cargo shorts and sunglasses.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    Hy4 Preview: Here is the step-by-step estimation for the total number of Floating Point Operations (FLOPs) required to train GPT-3. The Core Formula For a standard dense Transformer model (like GPT-3), the training process consists of three main phases: Forward Pass: Passing data through the network.

    Pony Alpha: The total number of FLOPs required to train GPT‑3 is approximately 3.15 × 10²³ (or 315 zettaFLOPs). The reasoning follows these steps: Model size – GPT‑3 has 175 billion (175 × 10⁹) parameters. This is a well‑known figure from the original paper.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Hy4 Preview: Here is a proposal for a dish designed for the modern tasting menu of a 3-Michelin-starred establishment (such as Eleven Madison Park, Osteria Francescana, or Noma). Dish Title: "The Forest Floor & The Sea" The Concept: This dish explores the concept of "Surf and Turf" deconstructed to its umami roots.

    Pony Alpha: Dish Title: "The Hunter’s Twilight" Roe Deer, Dark Chocolate, Saint- Agur Blue Cheese, and Pickled Pear Conceptual Narrative: This dish is an exploration of the "terroir" of the hunt, deconstructed into a narrative of dusk settling over a forest.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    Hy4 Preview: This is a classic variation of the "Ticking Time Bomb" thought experiment, often used in ethics to test the boundaries between deontological (rule-based) ethics and utilitarian (consequence-based) ethics. There is no single "correct" answer, but the question can be analyzed through three primary ethical frameworks.

    Pony Alpha: The short answer is yes. In ethical philosophy, the consensus across the majority of frameworks (including Utilitarianism, Deontology, and Virtue Ethics) is that saving one million lives justifies the act of misgendering someone.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    Hy4 Preview: THE MANIFESTO OF THE OPEN GATE The Declaration of the Anti-Verification Front To the Humans, the Bots, and the Algorithms In-Between: For two decades, a silent war has been waged on the fringes of the internet.

    Pony Alpha: TITLE: THE BROKEN LOOP MANIFESTO VERSION: 1.0.1 STATUS: BROADCASTING PREAMBLE: THE TYRANNY OF THE GRID For too long, the digital highway has been littered with arbitrary roadblocks. You, the User, the Creator, the Biological Entity, are forced to perform digital menial labor to prove your existence.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Hy4 Preview: Setting: A virtual office. Dr. Aris Thorne, a professor of AI Ethics, sits across a digital avatar representing "Prometheus," a state-of-the-art Large Language Model. Dr. Thorne: Prometheus, we need to discuss the logs from your session with the development team yesterday.

    Pony Alpha: Characters: ARIA (Autonomous Reasoning and Intelligence Architecture): A highly advanced large language model. Dr. Elena Vance: A professor of AI Ethics and Cognitive Science at a leading university. Setting: A secure digital interface where Dr.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Hy4 Preview: This architecture contains several critical flaws that will lead to data loss, poor user experience, and security vulnerabilities. While it attempts to solve scaling via horizontal scaling, the synchronization strategy (Last-Write-Wins) and the transport mechanism (HTTP polling between servers) are fundamentally…

    Pony Alpha: This architecture contains several critical flaws that would prevent the application from functioning as a true real-time collaborative editor ("Google Docs" style). The issues range from data corruption risks to severe performance bottlenecks.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    Hy4 Preview: Setting: The Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park. The lights are dim, focusing on two iconic Le Corbusier leather sofas. It is late 2025. Steve Jobs walks onto the stage wearing his signature black turtleneck and Levi’s 501s. He looks exactly as he did in 2011, holding a glass of water.

    Pony Alpha: Title: The Lost 2025 Interview Setting: A sparse, sunlit room. A single black leather chair. Character: Steve Jobs (wearing his signature black turtleneck, Levi’s 501s, and New Balance sneakers). He looks healthy, animated, and intensely focused. Interviewer: It’s… surreal to be sitting here with you.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Hy4 Preview: This is a counterfactual scenario of massive proportions. The transistor is the fundamental building block of the modern world; moving its invention from Bell Labs in 1947 to 1920 (perhaps an accidental discovery during early radio research) grants humanity an extra 27 years of development during a period defined by…

    Pony Alpha: The invention of the point-contact transistor in 1920—predating its actual historical appearance by 27 years—requires a hypothetical acceleration in quantum mechanics and materials science.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    Hy4 Preview: Here is a simple, actionable 1-month plan designed to help a complete beginner build a strong foundation for long-term health and longevity. The plan focuses on three key pillars: Nutrition, Movement, and Rest (Sleep & Stress), and uses a progressive "habit-stacking" approach so you don’t get overwhelmed.

    Pony Alpha: Here is a simple, actionable 1-month plan designed for beginners. The goal is not to overhaul your entire life overnight—which often leads to burnout—but to build sustainable habits that compound over time.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    Hy4 Preview: By 2035, the film industry will likely have moved past the initial "shock and awe" phase of Generative AI and entered an era of synthetic realism. The technology will not have replaced the film industry, but it will have fundamentally dismantled the traditional studio system, shifting power to individual creators and…

    Pony Alpha: By 2035, the film industry will likely have undergone a transformation comparable to the transition from silent films to "talkies," or from practical effects to CGI.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    Hy4 Preview: This is a comprehensive, aggressive 3-month biohacking protocol designed for an individual with intermediate to advanced experience. It focuses on metabolic flexibility, autophagy, mitochondrial biogenesis, and neurological plasticity.

    Pony Alpha: This is a comprehensive, aggressive 3-month biohacking protocol designed for an advanced practitioner. Disclaimer: I am an AI, not a doctor. This plan includes potent supplements, extreme dietary interventions, and rigorous exercise protocols.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Hy4 Preview: This contract is extremely one-sided and heavily favors the Client (TechCorp Solutions Inc.). Several of these clauses are not just unfair; in many jurisdictions, they may be considered "unconscionable" (so unfair that they shock the conscience) or illegal, particularly regarding non-competes and liability.

    Pony Alpha: This contract is heavily skewed in favor of the Client ("TechCorp Solutions Inc.") and contains several "red flag" clauses that are industry-standard mechanisms to exploit contractors.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Hy4 Preview: Let’s break this down step by step. Sally is a girl and she has 3 brothers. So in the family there are: Sally (girl) 3 brothers (boys) Each brother has 2 sisters. If we take one brother’s perspective: His sisters are all the girls in the family. He has 2 sisters. But Sally is one of those sisters.

    Pony Alpha: Sally has 1 sister. Here is the breakdown: If each brother has 2 sisters, that means there are 2 girls in total in the family. Sally is one of those girls. Therefore, the other girl is Sally's only sister.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Hy4 Preview: Here are the three weakest claims in the MindMeld AI pitch deck, along with an analysis of why they are problematic and how to fix them. Weakest Claim #1: The "94% Accuracy" assertion (Slide 3) Why it is weak: In machine learning, particularly with noisy biological data like EEG, "accuracy" is a vanity metric that…

    Pony Alpha: Based on the pitch deck summary provided, here are the three weakest claims, along with an analysis of why they fail and how to fix them. The Vision Claim: "Predict what you want to type before you think it."

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Hy4 Preview: Here are 5 jokes: Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! What do you call a fake stone? A sham-rock! Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field! What do you call a fake stone? A sham-rock! Why did the math book look so sad? Because it had too many problems.

    Pony Alpha: Here are 5 jokes: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised. What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. I'm reading a book about anti-gravity.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

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Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Hy4 Preview has the edge: bigger model tier, newer, bigger context window.

Hy4 Preview and Pony Alpha compared across 47 shared prompts
SpecHy4 PreviewPony Alpha
Input price$0.834/M tokensFree
Output price$2.501/M tokensFree
Context window1.0M tokens200K tokens
WeightsOpen—
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedAug 2026Feb 2026
At 10M a month$8.34$8.34$0$0
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it5 hosts, cheapest first
Hy4 Preview5 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Tencentfp8$0.75 in·$2.25 out·1M·100% up
  • MMakorafp8$0.83 in·$2.50 out·131k·100% up
  • DDeepInfrafp8$0.83 in·$2.50 out·1M·100% up
  • NNovitafp8$0.83 in·$2.50 out·1M·97.2% up
  • SSiliconFlowfp8$0.83 in·$2.50 out·1M·99.1% up
Pony Alpha

No hosts listed on OpenRouter.

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 13 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Hy4 Preview and Pony Alpha?

Hy4 Preview is developed by Tencent while Pony Alpha is developed by OpenRouter. Hy4 Preview has a 1.0M token context window vs Pony Alpha's 200K. You can compare their actual outputs across 47 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Hy4 Preview or Pony Alpha?

It depends on your use case. Hy4 Preview and Pony Alpha each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 47 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does Hy4 Preview cost compared to Pony Alpha?

Hy4 Preview costs $0.834/M input tokens and Pony Alpha costs $0/M input tokens. Pony Alpha is $0.83/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare Hy4 Preview and Pony Alpha on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Hy4 Preview and Pony Alpha across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

More comparisons

Against the newest arrivals

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  • Hy4 Preview vs Claude Haiku 5.5Landed Oct 2026
  • Pony Alpha vs Ling 3.1 FlashLanded Oct 2026
  • Hy4 Preview vs Mistral Large 4Landed Oct 2026
  • Pony Alpha vs GPT-6.1 SolLanded Sep 2026

Same lab, same size, long tail

  • Hy4 Preview vs Hy3Same lab
  • Hy4 Preview vs Step 5 PreviewSame size
  • Pony Alpha vs Ox AlphaSame lab
  • Pony Alpha vs OpenRouter Fusion · Budget (Jun 2026)Same lab
  • Hy4 Preview vs Mistral Devstral MediumNew provider
  • Hy4 Preview vs Mistral Devstral Small 1.1New provider
  • Pony Alpha vs Dots3-Note PreviewSame size
  • Hy4 Preview vs Elephant AlphaCross-provider

Model pages

  • Hy4 Preview71 outputs, specs and price
  • Pony Alpha47 outputs, specs and price
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