meta is paying developers to build on it: its top model at up to 80% off and $2m in prizes

that was day 2 of meta connect 2026, the day for developers. here's what meta announced

models:
- muse spark 1.3 is meta's top model. the meta model api is now open worldwide, and it also runs on oracle cloud. google cloud is in private preview
- the new contributor tier costs up to 80% less than the standard price. meta says that's 10-20x cheaper than rivals. meta only promised not to train on your data for the standard tier
- muse glimmer is a free open model – 30b, apache 2.0. it runs on one gpu or a mac mini. meta will release the weights of spark 1.2 later
- muse code, meta's coding agent for the terminal, is out of beta. it runs several agents at once and comes with flat monthly plans

developers already use it. numbers from @OpenRouter:
- muse traffic grew ~85x in eight weeks, to 2t+ tokens a week
- 90%+ of that comes from ai companies and professional developers
- the average request is ~80k tokens long – more than for any other model on openrouter
- on opencode go, spark is a top-2 model: 120m sessions, 79t tokens

what's new for builders:
- one line of code lets an ai agent use your web app on meta ray-ban display, by voice
- with meta ai connectors, people use your service right in the chat. the developer preview is open
- on stage, an ai agent sped up a vr game from 59 to 72 fps in 15 minutes
- meta vr glasses come without controllers in 2027, and the store will show apps you control with your hands first. the sdk is out today
- horizon games show up in facebook and instagram feeds and start in seconds, no download

prize money:
- ai hackathon in october – $1m plus free api credits
- vr app contest – $1m, eight weeks to build

before you build on meta, check:
- which tier you pay for and what meta does with your data
- whether your app works without a mouse or controller – with hands, voice or an ai agent
- where people will find it: the feed, the glasses or muse