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AI Model Comparison Cheat Sheet

Think "Wirecutter for AI models." Current, opinionated, useful.

Not just specs — real recommendations for real use cases.

Last updated: February 2026
Sort by:
💰 Cheapest that's still good
GPT-4o-mini
🧠 Best reasoning
o1 / DeepSeek-R1
💻 Best for code
Claude 3.5 Sonnet (or Sonnet 4)
📄 Largest context
Gemini 1.5 Pro (2M)
🏠 Best to self-host
LLaMA 3.1 70B
🚀 Best bang for buck
DeepSeek-V3
👁️ Best vision
GPT-4o / Gemini 2.0
✍️ Best writing
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
🔒 Most private
Any open model (self-hosted)

💰 Cost Calculator

Estimate your monthly costs. Prices change frequently — this is a rough guide.

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Model Comparison

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