Overview
In short, choose Claude for top quality, DeepSeek for the lowest cost, Qwen for budget-friendly coding, Gemini for speed, and GPT-5 for a balanced approach.
Model | Strengths | Weaknesses | Best For |
Claude Sonnet 4 | Most stable and accurate. Excels at complex reasoning and polished outputs. | Highest cost. Overkill for simple tasks. | Building production-ready apps, polished websites, and high-stakes coding projects. |
GPT-5 | Strong balance of quality and reasoning power. Handles complex docs well. | Slowest response speed. | Technical documentation, research reports, and coding tasks where speed is secondary. |
Qwen3-Coder-Plus | Cheaper and faster than GPT-5. Solid for coding and creative drafts. | Less reliable for mission-critical projects. | Budget coding support, brainstorming, and lightweight creative generation. |
Gemini 2.5 Pro | Very fast. Good at summarization and structured reporting. | It can sound repetitive in style. | Rapid prototyping, meeting notes, code summaries, and quick report drafts. |
DeepSeek V3 | Lowest cost. Handles general tasks decently. | Outputs may lack depth and consistency. | Quick experiments, rough drafts, low-stakes testing. |
Use Cases
Claude Sonnet 4
Anna, a freelance web developer, is building a client’s e-commerce site. She needs pixel-perfect code and reliable output. She chooses Claude for stability and accuracy.
GPT 5
David, a researcher, is writing a 20-page whitepaper. He values strong reasoning and clean documentation more than speed. He uses GPT-5 to structure and refine his report.
Qwen3-Coder-Plus
Lisa, a student, is building a side project on weekends. She wants quick coding help and ideas without overspending. She picks Qwen for budget-friendly support.
Gemini 2.5 Pro
Tom, a product manager, needs a meeting summary and a quick prototype for tomorrow’s demo. He uses Gemini 2.5 Pro for fast, structured outputs.
DeepSeek V3
Mark, a startup founder, is testing different app concepts. He doesn’t need polish yet; he just needs cheap experiments. He goes with DeepSeek V3 for rapid drafts.