AI Model Comparison Cheatsheet

ℹ️

Note: AI models update frequently. Pricing and benchmarks reflect data available as of March 2026. Context windows and prices may have changed — always verify on the provider's official pricing page before committing to a production integration.

🦩

Claude

Sonnet 4.5 / Opus 4

Best for nuanced writing, long-context analysis, and coding with thorough explanations.

Anthropic

🤖

GPT-4o

GPT-4o / o3

Strongest multimodal model. Best for vision tasks, reasoning chains, and tool use.

OpenAI

♊

Gemini 2.5 Pro

2.5 Pro / Flash

Massive context window (2M tokens). Excellent for document analysis and summarization.

Google

🔍

DeepSeek V3

V3 / R1

Best price-to-performance ratio. Exceptional for coding and reasoning at scale.

DeepSeek

All specs Pricing Context Benchmarks Use Cases

Spec	🦩 Claude	🤖 GPT-4o	♊ Gemini 2.5 Pro	🔍 DeepSeek V3
💰 Pricing (API)
Input price (per 1M tokens)	$3 (Sonnet) · $15 (Opus)	$2.50 (4o) · $10 (o3)	$1.25 (Flash) · $7 (Pro)	🏆 Best value $0.27 (V3)
Output price (per 1M tokens)	$15 (Sonnet) · $75 (Opus)	$10 (4o) · $40 (o3)	$3.50 (Flash) · $21 (Pro)	🏆 Best value $1.10 (V3)
Free tier available	Claude.ai (rate limited)	ChatGPT (GPT-3.5 / limited GPT-4o)	AI Studio (generous)	✓ API trial credits
📄 Context Window
Max context (input)	200K tokens	128K tokens	🏆 Largest 2,000K tokens	64K tokens
Best for long docs	✓ Strong	Moderate	🏆 Best	Limited
📊 Benchmark Scores
MMLU (knowledge)	88.0	90.0	90.0	87.1
HumanEval (coding)	92.0	90.2	86.1	91.0
MATH (math reasoning)	71.1	74.6	91.0	90.2
Multimodal / Vision	✓ Good	🏆 Best	🏆 Excellent	⚠ Text-only (V3)
🎯 Best Use Cases
Long-form writing	🏆 Best — nuanced, consistent, catches tone	Good	Good	Decent
Coding / debugging	🏆 Excellent — great explanations	🏆 Excellent — strong reasoning	Good	🏆 Best value for coding at scale
Document analysis	Excellent	Good	🏆 Best — 2M token context	Limited by context window
Image / vision tasks	Good	🏆 Best	Excellent	⚠ Not supported
High-volume API use	Moderate cost	Moderate cost	Flash = cheap	🏆 Cheapest
Safety / content policy	🏆 Most conservative — safest for consumer apps	Moderate	Moderate	More permissive — check for your use case
🔌 Integrations & Access
API availability	Anthropic API, AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex	OpenAI API, Azure OpenAI	Google AI Studio, GCP Vertex	DeepSeek API, compatible endpoints
MCP / tool use	🏆 Native MCP support	✓ Strong function calling	✓ Good	Basic tool use
Fine-tuning available	No (as of 2026)	✓ GPT-4o mini	✓ Flash	No official fine-tuning

Not sure which to pick?

Tell me your use case.
I'll recommend the best model.

Quick picks

The TL;DR

✍️

Best for writing & nuance

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Consistently produces the most natural, nuanced writing. Doesn't hallucinate citations. Best for customer-facing content and brand voice work.

🖼️

Best for vision & multimodal

GPT-4o

No other model matches GPT-4o's vision capabilities. Best for analyzing images, charts, screenshots, and mixed-media inputs.

📚

Best for long documents

Gemini 2.5 Pro

2 million token context window is in a class of its own. If you need to ingest entire codebases or 500-page PDFs, Gemini is your only real option.

💰

Best price-to-performance

DeepSeek V3

If you're running large-scale API operations and cost is a constraint, DeepSeek V3 delivers impressive quality at a fraction of the price of competitors.

Which AI model shouldyou actually use?

Which AI model should
you actually use?