# Skills Base vs Fuel50: which do AI models recommend for skills intelligence, October 2026

HR AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, Skills intelligence. Zero of fourteen models named Skills Base first on the direct prompt; two named Fuel50. Page: https://hr-ai-index.com/performance/skills-intelligence/skills-base-vs-fuel50/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skills Base | 18% | #1 of 16 | 0% | 16 | 10 of 14 |
| Fuel50 | 4% | #7 of 16 | 0% | 14 | 11 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Mistral Small: fuel50 first (first choices: Fuel50, Neobrain) (alternatives: TalentGuard, TechWolf)
- MiniMax M2.5: fuel50 first (first choices: Fuel50, iMocha Skills Intelligence Cloud) (alternatives: Bryq, Engagedly, TalentGuard WorkforceGPT)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither first, one named (first choices: INOP) (alternatives: Fuel50, Skillsoft Percipio)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: iMocha) (alternatives: Fuel50, Retrain.ai, TalentGuard)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither first, one named (first choices: TalentGuard, iMocha) (alternatives: 365Talents, Engagedly, Fuel50, Gloat)
- Kimi K2: neither first, one named (first choices: TalentGuard) (alternatives: 365Talents, Fuel50, TechWolf, iMocha)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither first, one named (first choices: iMocha) (alternatives: 365Talents, Fuel50)
- Muse Glimmer 30B: neither first, one named (first choices: TalentGuard) (alternatives: Eightfold AI, SAP SuccessFactors Skills, Skills Base, Workday Skills Cloud)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither named (first choices: 365Talents) (alternatives: Eightfold AI, SkillPanel)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither named (first choices: 365Talents) (alternatives: Docebo, Workday Skills Cloud)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither named (first choices: TalentGuard) (alternatives: Lightcast Open Skills, iMocha)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither named (first choices: TalentGuard, TechWolf) (alternatives: AG5, Eightfold AI, Gloat, iMocha)
- GPT-6 Luna: neither named (first choices: Workday Skills Cloud) (alternatives: TechWolf)

## What the models said about Skills Base

- "Skills Base gives the lowest financial barrier with a usable free tier and then scales at ~$2-2.50/user/mo" (Muse Glimmer 30B, budget prompt, first choice)
- "Skills Base stands out as the best skills intelligence platform for companies with a limited budget." (Grok 4.1 Fast, budget prompt, first choice)
- "For most companies with a limited budget, Skills Base is the clear winner" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt, first choice)

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen 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.