Head to head · Open-weight models you run yourself · October 2026 research run
Laguna M.1 vs Laguna S 2.1
Laguna S 2.1 scores 61 (C) on agent readiness against Laguna M.1's 55.5 (C), and leads in 2 of 4 scored categories. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.
Best open-weight models you download and run yourself for AI agents · All 2870 open weights comparisons
Which one, for what
Best for Teams with a multi-GPU Blackwell or Hopper server that want a large coding agent model under Apache 2.0.
No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.
Watch for
The smallest build needs about 167 GB, more than a 128 GB machine
Best for Agents doing long coding sessions on a 128 GB machine or a multi-GPU server that want a permissive licence and a 1M context.
Ahead on
- Reach, 75 against 65
- Documentation and upkeep, 41 against 36
Watch for
No reply from Poolside to any of 34 discussions, many of them reports about thinking and tool calls
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Laguna M.1 | Laguna S 2.1 | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | 35%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Reach | 25%25 | 65 | 75 | Laguna S 2.1 +10 |
| Risk | 20%20 | 55 | 55 | even |
| Agent interface | 10%10 | 85 | 85 | even |
| Documentation and upkeep | 10%10 | 36 | 41 | Laguna S 2.1 +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | C 55.5/100 | C 61/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Laguna M.1 | Laguna S 2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Open-weight model | Open-weight model |
| Vendor | Poolside | Poolside |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | ||
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | OpenMDW-1.1 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-07-14 | 2026-08-19 |
| Terms last updated | ||
| Privacy policy last updated | ||
| Customer content may train models | ||
| Terms restrict automated access | ||
| Terms restrict benchmarking | ||
| Terms or service can change without notice | ||
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | ||
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (4) | 2.3/5 (4) |
Verdicts
Laguna M.1
A large coding and agent cousin under plain Apache 2.0, for agents with a multi-GPU server. Its smallest build needs about 167 GB, more than a 128 GB machine, and no local runtime library packages it. The main risks are no upkeep since July, no hosted fallback shown today, no safety results, and repository code on the SGLang route.
Laguna S 2.1
A strong coding and agent cousin for long sessions, with 8B active parameters and a 1M-token context. At 4-bit it needs a 96 to 128 GB machine, tight on a 128 GB one. The main risks are that nobody at Poolside answers its many reports, there are no safety results, and a build card misdescribes its file.
Before you call either
Laguna M.1
- Run the NVFP4 build on Blackwell GPUs with
vllm serve poolside/Laguna-M.1-NVFP4 --tensor-parallel-size 2 --tool-call-parser poolside_v1 --reasoning-parser poolside_v1 --enable-auto-tool-choice, on vLLM 0.21.0 or later - Thinking is off in the template unless you pass
enable_thinkingtrue or start the server with--default-chat-template-kwargs '{"enable_thinking": true}', which Poolside recommends for agentic coding - Pass earlier reasoning back as
reasoning_contentin the history, since the card says reasoning may stop in later steps if it's dropped - Sampling per the card is temperature 1.0 and top_k 20
- The FP8 build's Docker image and serve.sh predate upstream support and set a 4,096-token context, so prefer a released vLLM
- It doesn't fit our 128 GB reference machine at any published precision
- Validate JSON output yourself or use the runtime's guided decoding, since structured output isn't documented
Laguna S 2.1
- Quickest start is
ollama run laguna-s-2.1, 96 GB for the default Q4_K_M, or the 66 GB nvfp4 tag on Apple Silicon - On our reference machine try
llama-server -hf poolside/Laguna-S-2.1-GGUF:Q4_K_M --jinja -c 65536, from a llama.cpp release with the laguna architecture (b11772 has it). The 96 GB file leaves little room for context in 107.4 GB - With vLLM or SGLang use
--tool-call-parser poolside_v1 --reasoning-parser poolside_v1, and with TensorRT-LLM--tool_parser poolside_v1 --reasoning_parser laguna - Thinking is on by default in the template, pass
chat_template_kwargswithenable_thinkingfalse to turn it off, and keepreasoning_contentfrom earlier turns - The GGUFs ship set to 262,144 tokens. For 1M with llama.cpp add
--ctx-size 1048576 --rope-scaling yarn --rope-scale 128 --yarn-orig-ctx 8192, which Poolside says can cost quality - Sampling per the generation config is temperature 1.0 and top_k 20, and Poolside suggests temperature 0.7 and top_p 0.95 at 1M
- Expect occasional tool-schema slips in harnesses unlike Poolside's own, and validate JSON arguments, which Poolside lists as known limitations
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Laguna M.1 or Laguna S 2.1?
Laguna S 2.1 scores 61 (C) on agent readiness against Laguna M.1's 55.5 (C), and leads in 2 of 4 scored categories.
Other comparisons with Laguna M.1 or Laguna S 2.1
- Agents-A1-4B vs Laguna M.1
- Agents-A1-4B vs Laguna S 2.1
- Apertus v1.5 8B vs Laguna M.1
- Apertus v1.5 8B vs Laguna S 2.1
- Apodex-1.1-mini vs Laguna M.1
- Apodex-1.1-mini vs Laguna S 2.1
- BigBang-v1 vs Laguna M.1
- BigBang-v1 vs Laguna S 2.1
- Cosmos-Reason2-2B vs Laguna M.1
- Cosmos-Reason2-2B vs Laguna S 2.1
- Darwin-36B-Opus vs Laguna M.1
- Darwin-36B-Opus vs Laguna S 2.1
- DeepSeek-V3.2 vs Laguna M.1
- DeepSeek-V3.2 vs Laguna S 2.1
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Laguna M.1
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Laguna S 2.1
- DeepSeek-V4-Flash-0731 vs Laguna M.1
- DeepSeek-V4-Flash-0731 vs Laguna S 2.1
- DiffusionGemma 26B A4B IT vs Laguna M.1
- DiffusionGemma 26B A4B IT vs Laguna S 2.1
- Gemma 4 12B IT vs Laguna M.1
- Gemma 4 12B IT vs Laguna S 2.1
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT vs Laguna M.1
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT vs Laguna S 2.1
- Gemma 4 31B IT vs Laguna M.1
- Gemma 4 31B IT vs Laguna S 2.1
- Gemma 4 E2B IT vs Laguna M.1
- Gemma 4 E2B IT vs Laguna S 2.1
- Gemma 4 E4B IT vs Laguna M.1
- Gemma 4 E4B IT vs Laguna S 2.1
- GLM-4.5-Air vs Laguna M.1
- GLM-4.5-Air vs Laguna S 2.1
- GLM-4.7-Flash vs Laguna M.1
- GLM-4.7-Flash vs Laguna S 2.1
- GLM-5.3-Flash vs Laguna M.1
- GLM-5.3-Flash vs Laguna S 2.1
- GLM-5.3 vs Laguna M.1
- GLM-5.3 vs Laguna S 2.1
- gpt-oss-120b vs Laguna M.1
- gpt-oss-120b vs Laguna S 2.1
- gpt-oss-20b vs Laguna M.1
- gpt-oss-20b vs Laguna S 2.1
- Granite 4.2 3B vs Laguna M.1
- Granite 4.2 3B vs Laguna S 2.1
- Hy3 vs Laguna M.1
- Hy3 vs Laguna S 2.1
- Inkling-Small vs Laguna M.1
- Inkling-Small vs Laguna S 2.1
- Inkling vs Laguna M.1
- Inkling vs Laguna S 2.1
- InternVL3.5-GPT-OSS-20B-A4B-Preview vs Laguna M.1
- InternVL3.5-GPT-OSS-20B-A4B-Preview vs Laguna S 2.1
- Kimi K3 vs Laguna M.1
- Kimi K3 vs Laguna S 2.1
- Kolibri-1 vs Laguna M.1
- Kolibri-1 vs Laguna S 2.1
- Laguna M.1 vs Laguna XS 2.1
- Laguna M.1 vs LFM2.5-2.6B
- Laguna M.1 vs Ling-3.0-tiny
- Laguna M.1 vs MiMo-V2.6 Distill Qwen 9B
- Laguna M.1 vs MiniCPM-o 4.5
- Laguna M.1 vs MiniCPM5-2B
- Laguna M.1 vs MiniMax-M2.5
- Laguna M.1 vs MiniMax-M2.7
- Laguna M.1 vs Muse Glimmer 30B
- Laguna M.1 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B
- Laguna M.1 vs Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B
- Laguna M.1 vs Nemotron 3 Nano 4B
- Laguna M.1 vs Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning
- Laguna M.1 vs Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B
- Laguna M.1 vs Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B
- Laguna M.1 vs occamy-1.0
- Laguna M.1 vs Olmo 3 7B Think
- Laguna M.1 vs Ornith-1.5-35B-A3B
- Laguna M.1 vs Ornith-1.5-397B
- Laguna M.1 vs Ornith-1.5-9B
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3-30B-A3B-Instruct-2507
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3-4B-Instruct-2507
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3.5-0.8B
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3.5-122B-A10B
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3.5-2B
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3.5-397B-A17B
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3.5-4B
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3.5-9B
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3.6-27B
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3.8-27B
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3.8-Flash-Next
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B-Instruct
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3-Coder-Next
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3-Omni-30B-A3B-Instruct
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3-VL-2B-Instruct
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3-VL-30B-A3B-Instruct
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3-VL-32B-Instruct
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwen3-VL-8B-Instruct
- Laguna M.1 vs Qwopus3.8-27B-Flash-V2
- Laguna M.1 vs SmolLM3-3B
- Laguna M.1 vs Spark-X2.6-4B
- Laguna M.1 vs Swift 1.5 Qwen3.8-27B
- Laguna M.1 vs Swift 1.5 Qwen3.8-Flash-Next
- Laguna M.1 vs ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B)
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Laguna XS 2.1
- Laguna S 2.1 vs LFM2.5-2.6B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Ling-3.0-tiny
- Laguna S 2.1 vs MiMo-V2.6 Distill Qwen 9B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs MiniCPM-o 4.5
- Laguna S 2.1 vs MiniCPM5-2B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs MiniMax-M2.5
- Laguna S 2.1 vs MiniMax-M2.7
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Muse Glimmer 30B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Nemotron 3 Nano 4B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs occamy-1.0
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Olmo 3 7B Think
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Ornith-1.5-35B-A3B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Ornith-1.5-397B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Ornith-1.5-9B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3-30B-A3B-Instruct-2507
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3-4B-Instruct-2507
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.5-0.8B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.5-122B-A10B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.5-2B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.5-397B-A17B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.5-4B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.5-9B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.6-27B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.8-27B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3.8-Flash-Next
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B-Instruct
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3-Coder-Next
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3-Omni-30B-A3B-Instruct
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3-VL-2B-Instruct
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3-VL-30B-A3B-Instruct
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3-VL-32B-Instruct
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwen3-VL-8B-Instruct
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Qwopus3.8-27B-Flash-V2
- Laguna S 2.1 vs SmolLM3-3B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Spark-X2.6-4B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Swift 1.5 Qwen3.8-27B
- Laguna S 2.1 vs Swift 1.5 Qwen3.8-Flash-Next
- Laguna S 2.1 vs ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B)
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/laguna-m-1-vs-laguna-s-2-1.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/laguna-m-1.json·/api/v1/tools/laguna-s-2-1.json - From a terminal
anchor compare laguna-m-1 laguna-s-2-1(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "laguna-m-1", "b": "laguna-s-2-1"}at/mcp, no key