Best of
Best AI, by job
Each list below is a short, editorial shortlist with what everyday jobs cost.
Costs here use the prices AI companies charge software developers, so they show relative cost, not your monthly bill. See what ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini charge you.
Best AI for writing
For everyday writing, Claude Sonnet 5.5 is our pick for the best balance of quality and price; Claude Haiku 5.5 is the cheap choice.
For everyday writing, Claude Sonnet 5.5 is our pick for the best balance of quality and price; Claude Haiku 5.5 is the cheap choice.
Best AI for coding
For programming help, Claude Opus 5.5 is our pick when quality matters most, and Claude Sonnet 5.5 is the better value.
For programming help, Claude Opus 5.5 is our pick when quality matters most, and Claude Sonnet 5.5 is the better value.
Cheapest good AI models
For lots of everyday work at the lowest cost, Claude Haiku 5.5, GPT-6 Luna and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash are the main low-cost choices; Schematron is the cheapest for turning web pages into data.
For lots of everyday work at the lowest cost, Claude Haiku 5.5, GPT-6 Luna and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash are the main low-cost choices; Schematron is the cheapest for turning web pages into data.
Best AI for long documents
Most current top and fast models can read well over a thousand pages at once, so choose on price and quality: Claude Haiku 5.5 or DeepSeek V4.1 Flash for cheap passes, Claude Opus 5.5 for the hardest reading.
Most current top and fast models can read well over a thousand pages at once, so choose on price and quality: Claude Haiku 5.5 or DeepSeek V4.1 Flash for cheap passes, Claude Opus 5.5 for the hardest reading.
Best AI models you can download for free
Xiaomi MiMo-V2.6-Pro is the smartest downloadable model we track; for running on your own computer, look at Qwen3.8 27B or Gemma 4 31B.
Xiaomi MiMo-V2.6-Pro is the smartest downloadable model we track; for running on your own computer, look at Qwen3.8 27B or Gemma 4 31B.
Best AI for pictures, audio and video
Gemini 4 Argon can take in text, pictures, audio, video and files; Qwen3.8 Flash and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL are low-cost options for pictures and video.
Gemini 4 Argon can take in text, pictures, audio, video and files; Qwen3.8 Flash and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL are low-cost options for pictures and video.