# ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) vs ZAYA1-8B (slim)

> ThinkingCap 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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ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) and ZAYA1-8B score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 61 (C) and 61 (C). ZAYA1-8B leads on reach and risk. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B): C 61, rank #58 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/thinkingcap-qwen3-8-27b.min.md
- ZAYA1-8B: C 61, rank #85 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zaya1-8b.min.md
- ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B), good for Small teams and individuals running Qwen3.8-27B for agent or reasoning work who want shorter thinking traces on one 24 GB GPU or Mac. Ahead on Agent interface, 70 against 60.
- ZAYA1-8B, good for People who want a small, fast reasoning model for maths and code and can live without tool calling Ahead on Reach, 80 against 75; Risk, 55 against 45.

| Category | ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) | ZAYA1-8B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 75 | 80 |
| Risk (20%) | 45 | 55 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 70 | 60 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 53 | 50 |

| Fact (where they differ) | ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) | ZAYA1-8B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | BottleCap AI | Zyphra |
| Licence | PolyForm-Small-Business-1.0.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | 2026-07-02 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-01-21 | no document linked |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- Risk, ZAYA1-8B +10: ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) 45 (File safety 25, safetensors only and no code in the repository.); ZAYA1-8B 55 (File safety 25, safetensors only, no .bin, .pt or .pth files and no Python in the repository.)
- Agent interface, ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) +10: ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) 70 (Chat template 20, the same Jinja template as Qwen3.8-27B, in the repository.); ZAYA1-8B 60 (Chat template 20, chat_template.jinja in the repository (10,700 characters).)
- Reach, ZAYA1-8B +5: ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) 75 (Memory 25 of 30, BottleCap's IQ4_XS GGUF is 15.5 GB, 18.6 GB with a fifth added, which fits 24 GB.); 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.)