# Recursive Flint vs ZAYA1-8B (slim)

> Recursive Flint and ZAYA1-8B score within a point of each other for open-weight models you run yourself, 61 and 61 out of 100. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-10
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Recursive Flint and ZAYA1-8B score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 61 (C) and 61 (C). Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- Recursive Flint: C 61, rank #54 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/recursive-flint.min.md
- ZAYA1-8B: C 61, rank #85 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zaya1-8b.min.md
- Recursive Flint, good for Agents doing repository work on a 32 to 48 GB Mac or NVIDIA box that want a sparse coder with documented tool calls and a plain licence. Ahead on Reach, 85 against 80; Risk, 60 against 55; Agent interface, 90 against 60; Documentation and upkeep, 67 against 50.
- ZAYA1-8B, good for People who want a small, fast reasoning model for maths and code and can live without tool calling

| Category | Recursive Flint | ZAYA1-8B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 85 | 80 |
| Risk (20%) | 60 | 55 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 90 | 60 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 67 | 50 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Recursive Flint | ZAYA1-8B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Recursive | Zyphra |
| Last release | 2026-10-21 | 2026-07-02 |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- Agent interface, Recursive Flint +30: Recursive Flint 90 (Chat template 20, a Jinja file in the repository and inside both GGUFs.); ZAYA1-8B 60 (Chat template 20, chat_template.jinja in the repository (10,700 characters).)
- Documentation and upkeep, Recursive Flint +17: Recursive Flint 67 (Model card 17 of 20, everything but languages.); ZAYA1-8B 50 (Model card 5, Intended use and the parameter counts are on the card.)
- Reach, Recursive Flint +5: Recursive Flint 85 (Memory 20 of 30, Recursive's MLX INT4 build is 22.6 GB, or 27.1 GB with a fifth added, which fits 32 GB, and every other 4-bit build lands in the same band.); ZAYA1-8B 80 (Memory 30, the smallest build from Zyphra is the MXFP4-Experts repository, 5.85 GB, and 5.85 GB × 1.2 = 7.0 GB, within 16 GB.)
- Risk, Recursive Flint +5: Recursive Flint 60 (File safety 15 of 25, safetensors and GGUF only, but the card's documented BF16 route installs the wheel shipped in the repository.); ZAYA1-8B 55 (File safety 25, safetensors only, no .bin, .pt or .pth files and no Python in the repository.)