Capability tiers
End users pick a tier, not a specific model — so prompts and agent configs stay portable when the model behind a tier changes.Smartest
Deepest reasoning for complex, multi-step work.
Balanced
The best everyday default — strong quality at moderate cost.
Fastest
Quick and cheap for simple, high-volume tasks.
Model matrix
Each provider fills the same three tiers. The number next to each model is its relative cost — a multiple of Claude Opus 4.8 (1×), blended across input and output tokens (assuming a ~3:1 input-to-output mix), so every model sits on one scale. Figures are public list prices as of July 2026; actual billing is usage-based.
| Tier | Anthropic | OpenAI | Kimi | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smartest | Claude Opus 4.8 · 1× | GPT-5.5 · 1.1× | Gemini 3.5 Flash · 0.34× | — |
| Balanced | Claude Sonnet 5 · 0.6× | GPT-5.4 · 0.56× | Gemini 2.5 Flash · 0.09× | Kimi K2.7 Code · 0.17× |
| Fastest | Claude Haiku 4.5 · 0.2× | GPT-5.4 mini · 0.17× | Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite · 0.06× | Kimi K2.6 · 0.17× |
Using models with agents
How a configured agent locks its chats to a single model.