Benzene dimer （bz2） is the simplest prototype of the π-π interactions. Such interactions are ubiquitous in diverse areas of science and molecular engineering. In the present work, we have made assessment on some modern density functional methods including B97-D, BLYP-D3, M06-2X, XYG3, and force field models including CHARMM, AMBER, MM3, AMOEBA on six important interaction modes of bz2. Our results not only highlight the usefulness of these cost-effective methods, which can be used as economic substitutes of the expensive CCSD（T） for complex real-world systems, but also indicate their weakness in the description of the π-π interactions, which points to the future direction for further improvements.
