# GenAI Showdown

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/genai-showdown/

7 people recommended GenAI Showdown in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a go-to comparison of image generation models, including locally runnable ones. Critics question whether the rankings are fair, saying they seem AI-judged and ignore style.

Summary written by Claude from 8 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 7 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Best benchmark for image models (2 comments in the sample): "probably the best one out there for image models" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46294247)) "Love this benchmark, always the first place I look." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46303670))

## What people warn about

- Rankings seem AI-judged and absurd (1 comment in the sample): "The photo rankings on this page are so absurd that the only reasonable explanation is that they were judged by an AI." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49185380))
- Overstates confidence in structured data (1 comment in the sample): "Your testing suite is the perfect example that structured data implies false confidence." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46657073))
- Does not check style (1 comment in the sample): "this benchmark is not checking style at all" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46061366))
- Before and After buttons swapped (1 comment in the sample): "Cool site, thanks! By the way, the "Before" and "After" buttons are swapped." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46006241))

## Other AI benchmarks people recommend

- [Artificial Analysis](https://hackerapproved.com/p/artificial-analysis/): 47 recommend, 9 mixed, 40 criticize
- [LMArena](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lmarena/): 21 recommend, 15 mixed, 36 criticize
- [ARC-AGI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arc-agi-3/): 10 recommend, 10 mixed, 23 criticize
- [Bullshit Benchmark](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bullshit-benchmark/): 9 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "GenAI Showdown", https://hackerapproved.com/p/genai-showdown/ (7 recommend, 1 mixed, 3 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.