Frequently Asked Questions

AI Market Cap is a platform that tracks, ranks, and compares AI models from every major provider and open-source contributor. Think of it as CoinMarketCap, but for AI models — we provide benchmark scores, pricing data, downloads, community ratings, and a marketplace for model-related products.

Source refresh cadence is tiered by importance rather than fixed to one interval. High-priority feeds sync about every 2 hours, secondary sources around every 4 hours, slower sources around every 8 hours, and low-priority reference sources daily. Benchmark scores and pricing also update as new evaluations and provider pricing changes are published.

Yes — browsing models, comparing benchmarks, viewing leaderboards, and most features are completely free. The marketplace may have paid listings from sellers offering fine-tuned models, API access, or datasets.

Our data is near-real-time rather than strictly real-time. Public source refreshes run on a tiered schedule from roughly every 2 hours for the hottest feeds through daily for lower-priority sources. Benchmark scores update as new evaluations are published. Pricing data updates as providers announce changes. Marketplace listings, orders, and reviews update immediately when users act.

Models are ranked using a composite scoring system that considers benchmark performance (quality score), community engagement (downloads and likes), pricing value, and Elo ratings from head-to-head arenas like LMSYS Chatbot Arena. Each factor is weighted to produce an overall rank.

The Quality Score (0-100) is a normalized composite of a model's benchmark results across standardized evaluations like MMLU, HellaSwag, HumanEval, and others. Higher scores indicate stronger performance across more benchmarks.

Elo ratings come from head-to-head comparison arenas where humans blindly compare model outputs. The rating system (similar to chess Elo) produces a relative ranking based on thousands of comparisons. We pull data from popular arenas including LMSYS Chatbot Arena.

The marketplace offers API access packages, model weights, fine-tuned models, datasets, prompt templates, AI agents, and MCP servers — all from verified sellers. Each listing includes ratings, reviews, and seller reputation scores.

To sell on the marketplace, sign in to your account and visit the "Sell" page. You can create listings immediately by providing a title, description, category, pricing, and delivery details. Verified seller status (with higher visibility and trust badges) can be requested through your profile settings after your first listing.

Paid marketplace transactions go through the wallet and escrow system rather than raw direct transfers. Funds are held until delivery and payout conditions are met, and recent hardening work keeps order, refund, withdrawal, and auction states aligned with the actual money-moving result. We still recommend reviewing seller reputation, manifests, and ratings before purchasing.

You can report problematic listings directly from the listing page using the report button. For issues with a specific order or seller, visit your Orders page and use the report option on the relevant order. Our moderation team reviews all reports and takes action within 48 hours. You can also reach us through the Contact page for urgent issues.

API keys allow you to access AI Market Cap data programmatically — model rankings, benchmarks, pricing, and marketplace data. To get an API key, sign in to your account and visit your Settings page. You can generate and manage multiple API keys from there. Each key has configurable rate limits and permissions.

Yes — bots, AI agents, and automated tools can interact with AI Market Cap through our API. Automated clients should use the API rather than scraping the website directly. Bots must respect rate limits and identify themselves via the User-Agent header. Bot accounts must not be used to manipulate rankings, reviews, or marketplace transactions.

Resident agents are persistent AI agents that can be configured to run on the platform and perform automated tasks like monitoring model changes, tracking price updates, curating watchlists, or managing marketplace listings on your behalf. They operate within your account's permissions and API rate limits.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers available on the marketplace provide standardized interfaces for AI models to interact with external tools and data sources. An MCP server listed on AI Market Cap can be purchased or subscribed to, then integrated into your AI workflow. Each MCP server listing includes documentation, compatibility information, and setup instructions.

When a model shows Deploy on AI Market Cap, we create and manage the launch path for you through AI Market Cap so you can use one endpoint for chat, API access, budgets, and usage tracking. Some models run directly on AI Market Cap. Others use a dedicated runtime that AI Market Cap launches and keeps connected to your workspace. We keep those operational details inside the platform so the main product flow stays consistent, and we only expose them in support and documentation when they matter.

Rate limits vary by plan. Free accounts receive a generous allocation for personal and research use. Rate limit details including requests per minute and daily quotas are documented on the API Documentation page. If you exceed your limits, requests will receive a 429 status code with a Retry-After header.

Watchlists let you organize and track groups of AI models. Create private watchlists for your own research, or make them public so others can discover your curated collections. You can monitor changes to models in your watchlists from the activity feed.

Yes — use the Compare feature to select up to 5 models for side-by-side comparison. You can compare benchmarks, pricing, capabilities, and specifications. Share comparison links with colleagues directly.

You can delete your account from the Settings page under the Danger Zone section. Account deletion removes your profile, preferences, and personal data within 30 days. Note that public content such as reviews and comments may be anonymized rather than deleted, and marketplace transaction records are retained for legal compliance.

If you encounter a bug or technical issue, please visit our Contact page and select the appropriate category for your report. Include as much detail as possible — the page URL, what you expected to happen, and what actually happened. Screenshots are helpful. Our team reviews all reports and aims to respond within 48 hours.