Model comparison · YOLO26 vs YOLOv8

YOLO26 vs YOLOv8

A size-tier-by-size-tier comparison of Ultralytics YOLO26 and Ultralytics YOLOv8: published COCO accuracy, parameter counts, licensing and which one to reach for. Every figure is the model authors' own, linked to its source.

CompareYOLO26
AgainstYOLOv8
64%fewer params

mAP comparison

YOLO26YOLOv8
34.040.847.554.361.0mAPNanoSmallMediumLargeExtra largeModel size tierYOLO26n: 40.9 mAP, 2.4M paramsYOLO26s: 48.6 mAP, 9.5M paramsYOLO26m: 53.1 mAP, 20.4M paramsYOLO26l: 55.0 mAP, 24.8M paramsYOLO26x: 57.5 mAP, 55.7M paramsYOLOv8n: 37.3 mAP, 3.2M paramsYOLOv8s: 44.9 mAP, 11.2M paramsYOLOv8m: 50.2 mAP, 25.9M paramsYOLOv8l: 52.9 mAP, 43.7M paramsYOLOv8x: 53.9 mAP, 68.2M params

YOLO26

  • Nano 40.9
  • Small 48.6
  • Medium 53.1
  • Large 55.0
  • Extra large 57.5

YOLOv8

  • Nano 37.3
  • Small 44.9
  • Medium 50.2
  • Large 52.9
  • Extra large 53.9
COCO mAP at 640px, as published by each model’s authors. The y axis spans 34.0 to 61.0 rather than starting at zero, so small differences stay visible. Points are the published checkpoints; the joining lines are for reading order only.

Accuracy and size, tier by tier

Each row pairs the equivalent rung of both size ladders, so the numbers sit side by side at comparable capacity. Every figure is the model authors’ own.

  • COCO mAP50-95 @ 640px
  • mAP: higher is better
  • Params (M): lower is better
YOLO26 and YOLOv8 compared at each size tier: published COCO mAP50-95 at 640px and parameter counts in millions.
TierYOLO26YOLOv8Δ mAP
ModelmAPParamsModelmAPParams
NanoYOLO26n40.92.4MYOLOv8n37.33.2M+3.6
SmallYOLO26s48.69.5MYOLOv8s44.911.2M+3.7
MediumYOLO26m53.120.4MYOLOv8m50.225.9M+2.9
LargeYOLO26l55.024.8MYOLOv8l52.943.7M+2.1
Extra largeYOLO26x57.555.7MYOLOv8x53.968.2M+3.6

Δ mAP is YOLO26 minus YOLOv8: positive means YOLO26 is ahead at that tier. Sources: YOLO26 docs · YOLOv8 docs

Additional information

  • YOLO26 posts the higher published COCO mAP at all 5 matched size tiers, averaging 3.18 mAP ahead of YOLOv8. The gap is widest at the small tier, where YOLO26 leads by 3.7 mAP. At the top of each range, YOLO26 reaches 57.5 mAP against 53.9.

  • 64% fewer parameters, same accuracy. YOLO26l reaches 55.0 mAP from 24.8M parameters, matching or beating YOLOv8x at 53.9 mAP from 68.2M.

    Parameter count is not latency. It is a good proxy for download size and memory, but throughput depends on your hardware, batch size and export format, so measure on your own target.

YOLO26

NMS-free, end-to-end, and tuned for the edge.

Released
2026 · Ultralytics
License
AGPL-3.0
Framework
Ultralytics (PyTorch)
Tasks
Detect, Segment, Semantic segmentation, Depth, Classify, Pose, OBB, Open-vocabulary

A single-stage detector that outputs final boxes directly, with no separate NMS cleanup step, so it runs faster on CPUs and edge devices while keeping top accuracy.

Download YOLO26 weights →

YOLOv8

The workhorse that made anchor-free multi-task YOLO mainstream.

Released
2023 · Ultralytics
License
AGPL-3.0
Framework
Ultralytics (PyTorch)
Tasks
Detect, Segment, Classify, Pose, OBB

The anchor-free model that made multi-task YOLO mainstream: one architecture for detection, segmentation, pose, classification and OBB, with the largest ecosystem.

Download YOLOv8 weights →

YOLO26 and YOLOv8 against the whole lineage

YOLO26 and YOLOv8 against every other detector here, on one shared scale. The rest are dimmed; hover any row to bring it back.

Every YOLO detector in this section, with release year, publisher, published COCO mAP50-95 range at 640px, parameter-count range and licence.
ModelReleasedmAP rangeParams rangeLicence
YOLO26202640.9 to 57.52.4M to 55.7MAGPL-3.0
YOLO12202540.6 to 55.22.6M to 59.1MAGPL-3.0
YOLO11202439.5 to 54.72.6M to 56.9MAGPL-3.0
YOLOv10202438.5 to 54.42.3M to 29.5MAGPL-3.0
YOLOv9202438.3 to 55.62.0M to 58.1MGPL-3.0
YOLOv8202337.3 to 53.93.2M to 68.2MAGPL-3.0
YOLOv5 (v5u)202034.3 to 53.22.6M to 97.2MAGPL-3.0

Every matchup

YOLO26 vs YOLO12YOLO26 vs YOLO11YOLO26 vs YOLOv10YOLO26 vs YOLOv9YOLO26 vs YOLOv8YOLO26 vs YOLOv5 (v5u)YOLO12 vs YOLO11YOLO12 vs YOLOv10YOLO12 vs YOLOv9YOLO12 vs YOLOv8YOLO12 vs YOLOv5 (v5u)YOLO11 vs YOLOv10YOLO11 vs YOLOv9YOLO11 vs YOLOv8YOLO11 vs YOLOv5 (v5u)YOLOv10 vs YOLOv9YOLOv10 vs YOLOv8YOLOv10 vs YOLOv5 (v5u)YOLOv9 vs YOLOv8YOLOv9 vs YOLOv5 (v5u)YOLOv8 vs YOLOv5 (v5u)

Looking for the weights themselves? Download any of these checkpoints from the model-weights hub, or see how the trackers behind them compare in the YOLO tracker benchmarks.