Artificial intelligence models are evolving faster than ever, and recently, there’s been a lot of buzz around a new model called Horizon Beta, available for free on OpenRouter. Some people are even calling it the “unofficial GPT-5.” But does it live up to the hype?
In this detailed blog post, we’re going to thoroughly explore Horizon Beta, test its coding capabilities, build apps and games, compare it with Gemini 2.5 Pro, and analyze whether it’s really a contender in the next-gen AI race.
🌐 What Is Horizon Beta?
Horizon Beta is a new AI model hosted on OpenRouter that many users speculate could be part of the GPT-5 family. It’s a successor to Horizon Alpha and is being advertised with $0 input and $0 output tokens — in other words, it’s currently free to use.
Some believe it may be a variant like “GPT-5 Nano,” due to its lightweight structure, while Horizon Alpha is said to be a more powerful model associated with deeper reasoning capabilities.
🧠 According to OpenRouter community feedback and model benchmarking tools, Horizon Beta is still considered an experimental or “stealth” release — often used to anonymously test AI performance.
🛠 How to Access and Use Horizon Beta on OpenRouter
Before diving into capabilities, let’s go through how to access and use Horizon Beta step-by-step.
Step 1: Visit OpenRouter
Go to https://openrouter.ai
If you don’t already have an account, sign up or log in.
Step 2: Select the Horizon Beta Model
Once logged in:
- Navigate to the Chat interface.
- Select Horizon Beta from the list of available models.
- Confirm the usage shows $0 input / $0 output.
Step 3: Begin Chatting
You can start using Horizon Beta right away:
- Enter a text prompt (e.g., “Create a Pong game in HTML”).
- Choose additional settings like web search or app mode if supported.
🧪 Let’s Test Horizon Beta: Real Use Cases
Now that we’re all set up, it’s time to see what Horizon Beta can actually do.
1. Building a Pong Game (3JS/HTML)
Prompt used:
“Make a hyper-dopamine Pong game”
Results:
- It successfully generated HTML and JavaScript.
- The visual output looked promising, but user interaction was buggy.
- Paddle controls were unresponsive, and no clear instructions were provided.
- Mood settings and turbo options were present but didn’t seem to work well.
Verdict: Visually impressive but lacked functionality. A decent demo, but not production-ready.
2. Endless Runner Game in P5.js
Prompt used:
“Make a captivating endless runner game in P5.js with pixel art and unique backgrounds. Key instructions on screen. No HTML.”
Results:
- The AI generated a basic game structure.
- However, it produced HTML instead of pure P5.js code.
- Performance was inconsistent.
- Switching to dark mode in the UI helped improve readability.
Pro Tip: To change the theme in OpenRouter, go to Profile → Settings → Theme.
Verdict: Conceptually sound, but failed to meet technical requirements (ignored the “no HTML” request).
3. Car Simulator (HTML/Canvas)
Prompt used:
“Create a 3D car simulator”
Testing Process:
- Copied the generated HTML into external environments like LiveWeave and P5 Editor.
- The car rendered correctly and could be controlled, though with glitches.
- Camera angle was adjustable, which was a nice touch.
- Visuals were basic, and physics were unrealistic.
Verdict: More polished than previous attempts but still far from a true simulator.
4. Minecraft Clone
Prompt used:
“Create a Minecraft clone”
Results:
- The interface froze and required a refresh.
- Movement controls did not function.
- Preview failed to launch properly.
Verdict: Disappointing. Horizon Beta struggled with complex 3D environments or sandbox-style logic.
⚔ Horizon Beta vs Gemini 2.5 Pro: Head-to-Head Comparison
To fairly assess Horizon Beta, we tested the exact same prompts with Gemini 2.5 Pro. Here’s how they compared:
| Task | Horizon Beta | Gemini 2.5 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Pong Game | Buggy and incomplete | Smooth and playable |
| Endless Runner | Misinterpreted prompt | Clear layout with gameplay |
| Car Simulator | Basic, minor interactivity | Responsive controls |
| Minecraft Clone | Didn’t launch | Still buggy, but better structure |
| Sonic Game (HTML) | Failed to render | Fully playable level created |
Conclusion: Gemini 2.5 Pro outperformed Horizon Beta in every test. It provided more accurate responses, smoother graphics, and fully functional gameplay across the board.
💻 Horizon Beta Inside Visual Studio Code
Curious if the VS Code integration would improve results, we tested Horizon Beta in a coding workflow using the Recode plugin.
Setup Instructions:
- Download Visual Studio Code from https://code.visualstudio.com
- Install the Recode extension.
- Connect to OpenRouter via API in Recode settings.
- Select Horizon Beta as the model (watch out — the App Mode might default to another model).
- Choose between Plan Mode (step-by-step instructions) and Act Mode (automated building).
Test: SEO Calculator
- Horizon Beta planned the logic well.
- In Act Mode, it created a basic HTML app.
- Once we forced it to use Horizon Beta for both planning and acting, the outputs matched expectations.
Verdict: Surprisingly better results inside VS Code than OpenRouter’s native chat. A viable option for prototyping small tools.
🔁 Common Issues and Workarounds
Let’s pause and cover some of the caveats we encountered.
Problem: Horizon Beta Creates HTML When Asked for JS
Fix: Be very specific — say “only return P5.js script, no HTML or CSS.”
Problem: Plan Mode and Act Mode Use Different APIs
Fix: Manually select Horizon Beta for both sections to maintain consistency.
Problem: Slow or Unresponsive Interface
Fix: Use a lightweight editor like LiveWeave or P5.js Web Editor for code previews.
🧠 Is Horizon Beta Actually GPT-5?
Let’s answer the elephant in the room.
Q: Is Horizon Beta the new GPT-5?
A: Highly unlikely. Based on the performance observed:
- Poor game logic
- Frequent syntax or logic errors
- Low reasoning capability
- Lacks creative detail seen in Gemini or Claude Opus
Q: Why Is It Still Worth Trying?
A: Because it’s:
- Free to use
- Good for basic app scaffolding
- Useful inside coding IDEs like VS Code
- Helpful for educational use or lightweight apps
📌 Final Thoughts
After thorough testing, it’s clear that Horizon Beta is not GPT-5. While it’s a promising free tool for experimentation, it lacks the performance, creativity, and reasoning depth of models like Gemini 2.5 Pro or Claude Opus.
If you’re just dabbling in web app prototyping or curious about model behavior, Horizon Beta is worth exploring. But if you’re building production-grade apps or games, you’ll likely want to stick with more mature tools.
🔖 Tags and Hashtags
Tags: Horizon Beta, OpenRouter AI, GPT-5 comparison, Gemini 2.5 Pro, AI coding tools, Visual Studio Code, OpenRouter setup, free AI models, AI app builder, P5.js, HTML game development
Hashtags:
#HorizonBeta #OpenRouter #GPT5 #AIcomparison #GeminiPro #VisualStudioCode #AItools #FreeAI #AIgamedev #HTML5games
⚠ Disclaimer
This article is for educational and testing purposes only. Horizon Beta is a community-hosted model on OpenRouter and is not officially confirmed as GPT-5 by OpenAI or any affiliated organization. Performance results may vary based on server load, prompt clarity, and system configuration.
Let us know in the comments if you’ve tried Horizon Beta and how it worked for you.
