AI Models · Open-Source vs Paid

MELongCat 2.0 Open vs SAFugu Ultra v2 Paid

LongCat 2.0 vs Fugu Ultra v2 compared — price per token, context window, multimodality, openness and which to choose. Can the open-source model replace the paid one? Full 2026 breakdown.

Prices & specs refreshed from live data · olud.ai

Open-model prices = cheapest provider via OpenRouter; official maker rates may be higher.

MELongCat 2.0OpenMeituan
$0.3 /M input
$1.2 /M outputNo per-token fees if you self-host
TypeOpen-weight
Context window1M tokens
MultimodalNo
Self-hostYes
SAFugu Ultra v2PaidSakana AI
$5 /M input
$30 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window1M tokens
MultimodalYes
Self-hostNo
Choose LongCat 2.0 if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose Fugu Ultra v2 if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

LongCat 2.0 vs Fugu Ultra v2 specs

SpecLongCat 2.0Fugu Ultra v2Winner
MakerMeituanSakana AI
TypeOpen-weightProprietaryMELongCat 2.0
Context window1M tokens1M tokensMELongCat 2.0
Input price$0.3/M · free self-host$5/MMELongCat 2.0
Output price$1.2/M · free self-host$30/MMELongCat 2.0
Vision / multimodalNoYesSAFugu Ultra v2
Tool / function callingYesYes= Tie
Self-hostableYesNo (API only)MELongCat 2.0
LicenseOpen weightsProprietaryMELongCat 2.0

Price gap & when to choose each

25×cheaper per output token

LongCat 2.0 is ~25× cheaper than Fugu Ultra v2 on output tokens ($1.2 vs $30 per M tokens).

MEChoose LongCat 2.0 if…
  • You want to self-host or run on your cloud
  • You need the longer 1M context window
  • You prioritize data privacy & control
  • You want the lowest operating costs
  • You are building open or reproducible AI
SAChoose Fugu Ultra v2 if…
  • You want frontier performance through a managed API
  • You value reliability & ecosystem
  • You don't want to manage infrastructure

Feature comparison

CapabilityLongCat 2.0Fugu Ultra v2
Open weights (downloadable)
Self-hostable
Runs fully offline
Vision / multimodal
Tool / function calling
1M+ context window

Benchmarks: LongCat 2.0 vs Fugu Ultra v2

Independent benchmark scores measured by Artificial Analysis. Higher is better (except latency).

LongCat 2.0
Fugu Ultra v2
Intelligence index
19.7
Coding index
45.3
GPQA
78%
Humanity's Last Exam
33.7%
Long Context Reasoning
65%
SciCode
36.3%
τ-Bench Banking
13.2%
Terminal-Bench
50.2%
Speed
0 tok/s
Latency
0s
Intelligence per $
37.5

Benchmark data by Artificial Analysis.

How LongCat 2.0 and Fugu Ultra v2 score

🏆 Best value & openness: LongCat 2.0 (4.6 vs 3.1 / 5)
CriterionLongCat 2.0Fugu Ultra v2
Cost-efficiency4.53.0
Context window5.05.0
Openness5.01.5
Self-hosting5.01.0
Multimodality3.55.0

Scores come from live data — output price (cost), context length, open vs closed weights (openness & self-hosting) and vision/tool support (multimodality). Raw task quality isn't scored here; it depends on your benchmark — see the verdict.

What each model is

LongCat 2.0 Open

Meituan · Open-weight

LongCat 2.0 is a sparse mixture-of-experts language model from Meituan, with 48B active parameters out of 1.6T total. It is suited for coding, repository-level changes, long-horizon problem solving, and agentic...

Fugu Ultra v2 Paid

Sakana AI · Proprietary

Fugu Ultra v2 is the higher-performance model in Sakana AI's Fugu family. Rather than a single monolithic model, Fugu is a learned multi-agent orchestration system: a language model trained to...

Frequently asked questions

Is LongCat 2.0 as good as Fugu Ultra v2?

LongCat 2.0 is open-weight and competitive on many tasks, but Fugu Ultra v2 may still lead on the hardest reasoning and agentic work. The gap keeps narrowing — benchmark both on your actual use case before deciding.

Can I run LongCat 2.0 locally?

Yes. LongCat 2.0 has open weights, so you can self-host it on your own GPUs or run it via a low-cost API. Fugu Ultra v2 is API-only and cannot be self-hosted.

How much cheaper is LongCat 2.0?

LongCat 2.0 costs $1.2/M output vs $30/M for Fugu Ultra v2 — roughly 25x cheaper via API, and free if you self-host.

LongCat 2.0 vs Fugu Ultra v2 — which should I pick in 2026?

Choose LongCat 2.0 if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose Fugu Ultra v2 if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

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