LLM Reference

Cactus Compute

3 models across 1 family · Latest: Needle 3 (2026-09)

AgentsClassificationJSON / Tool use

Cactus Compute's portfolio covers 3 active models across 1 current family, spanning agents, classification, and json / tool use. Open a model detail page to compare provider routes and sourced benchmarks.

Covers 3 workload areas across 3 active tracked models; last verified 2026-09-17.

Use it for

  • Teams evaluating agents, classification, and json / tool use across this lab's releases
  • Comparing model families before committing to a flagship
  • Migration and pricing follow-ups across 3 tracked models

Do not use it for

  • Choosing a hosting provider without opening a model page for price ladders

Active models

3

Current models from this lab, excluding deprecated ones

Active families

1

Current model families from this lab

Open catalog

3 open

3 open source / 0 open weights

Lowest output price

Not tracked

No provider output pricing linked yet

Latest dated release

2026-09-17

Needle 3

Freshness

2026-09-17

Researched 1d ago

fresh

Release cadence

Dated releases
3
Latest model
Needle 3
Latest date
2026-09-17

Where this lab wins

  • Agentic: 3 tracked models with BFCL, tau-bench, and SWE-bench tool-use coverage.
  • Classification: 2 tracked models with MMLU-class moderation/safety coverage.
  • JSON/tool-use: 3 tracked models with BFCL / Nexus strict-JSON routing coverage.

Flagship quality / price signal

Flagship
Needle 3
Selection source
Best sourced coding Q/$
Coding grade
unknown
Benchmark / output price
Not enough sourced benchmark and price coverage

About

Cactus Compute, Inc. builds automation foundation models for tiny devices (mobiles, wearables, smart home, robots, microcontrollers) plus the source-available Cactus on-device runtime. Official site https://cactuscompute.com/; Needle product https://cactuscompute.com/needle; blog https://cactuscompute.com/blog; HF org Cactus-Compute; GitHub org cactus-compute; lab X @cactuscompute. Tagline from X bio / site: Automation Foundation Models For Tiny Devices. Seed overview from first-party site/blog/HF/GitHub + MCP-verified X only.

Featured models

ModelReleasedContextInput price ($/1M)Output price ($/1M)LicenseOpenness
Needle 32026-09-178k--Apache 2.0Open source
Needle 22026-08-092k--Apache 2.0Open source
Needle2026-05-12---MITOpen source

Model families

Recent releases

  1. Needle 3- 2026-09-17
  2. Needle 2- 2026-08-09
  3. Needle- 2026-05-12

Explore related pages

Last reviewed: 2026-09-17. Data sourced from public lab announcements and provider documentation.