Decision Tools
Budget Picker — Best Model Per Spend
| Budget / Task | Model | Why |
|---|---|---|
| FREE coding | Hy3 | Apache 2.0, OpenRouter free tier, 54 TB |
| Cheap agent (<$0.30/M out) | DS V4 Flash | $0.14/$0.28, TB 56.9, SWE-V 79.0 |
| Value agent (<$1/M out) | GLM-5.2 | $0.50-0.75, TB 81, SWE-Pro 62.1 |
| Open-weight agent | MiniMax M3 | $0.30/$1.20, TB 66 (v), 1M ctx |
| Mid agent ($1-4/M out) | Nemotron 3 Ultra | $0.37/$1.08, TB 56.4, SWE-V 71.9 |
| Quality plan ($4-8/M out) | Sonnet 5 | TB 80.4, SWE-Pro 63.2, GDPval 1618 |
| Best agent (any budget) | Fable 5 | TB 84.3, DeepSWE 70% #1, MCP 83.3 |
Recommended Model Pairs
| Rating | Planner | Executor | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| ★★ | Sonnet 5 | GLM-5.2 | Default agent pipeline |
| ★ | Sonnet 5 | Qwen3.7 Max | Long-horizon autonomous |
| ★ | Opus 4.8 | Qwen3.7 Max | Peak accuracy + long-horizon |
| ★ | Composer 2.5 | Grok Build 0.1 | Grok Build /goal mode |
| $ | Opus 4.8 | DS V4 Flash | Budget code gen pipeline |
| $ | MiniMax M3 | Hy3 | Open-weight budget |
| FOSS | GLM-5.2 | Qwen3-Coder-Next | Self-hosted agents |
Provider Guide — Best Available Per Provider
| Provider | Agent / CLI | Budget Coding | Planning |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZenMux | MiniMax M3 | DS V4 Flash | Opus 4.8 |
| OpenCode Go | GLM-5.2 | DS V4 Flash | Opus 4.8 |
| OpenRouter | GLM-5.2 | Hy3 (free) | Opus 4.8 |
| Ollama Cloud | Qwen3.7 Max | Llama 4 Mav | Qwen3.7 Max |
| Nous Portal | Opus 4.8 | Hy3 | Opus 4.8 |
If your provider lacks a model: OpenRouter bridges most providers | ZenMux has widest catalog