# AI Model Selection Guide

Hello, I'm Yupi.

We've already explored the three major types of AI programming tools. But whether you choose no-code platforms, code editors, or command-line tools, they all share a common core - the **AI model**.

You might be wondering:

- Cursor offers choices like Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini - what's the difference between them?
- Why do some say Claude is the best for programming while others recommend ChatGPT?
- Are domestic large models reliable? How big is the gap compared to international models?

Don't worry. In this article, I'll explain the characteristics of mainstream AI models in the most straightforward way and teach you how to choose the right model based on your needs.

A quick note: AI models evolve rapidly. This article is based on the situation as of January 2026. New models may emerge in the future, or existing models' capabilities may change. So stay updated with the latest developments and adjust your choices flexibly.

## 1. What is an AI Model?

First, let's clarify a basic concept: What is an AI model?

Simply put, **an AI model is the "brain" behind Vibe Coding tools**.

When you input requirements into an AI programming tool, it's the AI model that understands your words; when you see generated code, it's also written by the AI model. Different AI models are like experts in different fields, each with their strengths. Some excel at writing code, others at organizing literature; some are fast, others produce high-quality output.

To use an analogy:

- AI programming tools (Cursor, Bolt.new) = Workbench
- AI models (Claude, ChatGPT) = Programmers sitting at the workbench doing the work

So, even when using the same Cursor, choosing Claude versus ChatGPT is like hiring two programmers with different styles to write code for you - the final results will naturally differ.

![](https://pic.yupi.icu/1/whatisaimodel大.jpeg)

## 2. Mainstream AI Models

As of January 2026, the market offers a rich variety of AI models. Based on origin and positioning, they can be divided into three major camps:

- Top international models: The three giants - Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini
- Excellent domestic models: Cost-effective options like DeepSeek, Zhipu GLM, Tongyi Qianwen, Kimi
- Open-source models: Llama, Qwen, etc., requiring some technical skills for deployment

For learning Vibe Coding, focusing on the first two categories is sufficient. While open-source models are flexible, they have higher configuration and usage barriers, making them less suitable for beginners.

![](https://pic.yupi.icu/1/image-20260106202328517.png)

Next, I'll introduce the characteristics of these mainstream models one by one to help you find the one that best suits your needs.

## 3. Claude - The Strongest Coding Capability

Claude 4.5 is the latest version released by Anthropic in 2025. As of January 2026, it's still widely recognized as the AI model with the strongest programming capabilities.

Claude 4.5 mainly has two versions: Opus 4.5 is the top-tier version with the strongest programming capabilities but relatively slower speed and higher price; Sonnet 4.5 is the balanced version, offering an excellent balance between performance and speed at the best value.

### Why is Claude considered the strongest for programming?

In the authoritative SWE-bench (Software Engineering Benchmark), Claude Opus 4.5 scored higher than GPT-5 and Gemini 3 Pro, firmly holding the SOTA (State of the Art) position in programming. Specifically, Claude excels in code understanding, refactoring, debugging, etc. It accurately understands complex code logic, is good at optimizing and improving existing code, can quickly locate and fix bugs, and has excellent context memory (less prone to "forgetting").

These advantages make Claude particularly suitable for developers who need high-quality code, those working on complex projects, and scenarios with high code quality requirements.

**Of course, this assumes your budget is sufficient.**

### Pricing and Access Methods

There are three main ways to use Claude:

- Official subscription: Claude Pro at $20/month (≈¥145)
- Through Cursor: Cursor Pro subscription at $20/month includes Claude usage quota
- API calls: Pay-as-you-go based on tokens, offering flexibility

![Claude Official Pricing](https://pic.yupi.icu/1/image-20260106203330977.png)

If you're serious about learning Vibe Coding and want to build commercial-grade products, I recommend subscribing to Cursor Pro. For the same $20, you can not only use Claude but also switch to other models, offering the best value.

Note that Cursor packages aren't unlimited - exceeding quotas incurs additional charges. Here's a look at my bill:

![](https://pic.yupi.icu/1/image-20260106202855849.png)

Also recommended is the learning resource [Claude Cookbooks](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-cookbooks), a collection of Claude usage tips and code examples provided by Anthropic, covering tutorials for various practical scenarios like tool calling, RAG, classification, summarization, and multimodal applications - very much worth learning.

## 4. ChatGPT - Intelligence and Speed Combined

After discussing Claude, let's look at ChatGPT.

ChatGPT is OpenAI's product, the tool that first made AI chat popular worldwide. By 2025, OpenAI had launched the GPT-5 series, including the general GPT-5, the more reasoning-capable GPT-5 Pro, and the o3 version specifically optimized for logic, math, and programming.

![](https://pic.yupi.icu/1/image-20260106221446611.png)

While ChatGPT may slightly trail Claude in pure programming capability comparisons, it has unique advantages.

First, it's faster, generating code significantly quicker than Claude, making it ideal for rapid iteration scenarios. Second, its knowledge updates more promptly, with better understanding of the latest technologies and frameworks. It also has a better ecosystem with richer plugin and tool support, and stronger Chinese comprehension and generation capabilities.

Thus, if you need rapid prototyping, prioritize speed, or want to use various plugins and tools, ChatGPT is also an excellent choice.

ChatGPT pricing and access methods:

- ChatGPT Plus: $20/month
- ChatGPT Pro: $200/month (includes advanced models like o3)
- API calls: Pay-as-you-go based on tokens

![](https://pic.yupi.icu/1/image-20260106203501181.png)

## 5. Gemini 3.0 - The King of Long Context

Next is Gemini, Google's AI model. The 2025 Gemini 3.0 series mainly has two versions: the top-tier Gemini 3 Pro with comprehensive capabilities, and the lightweight Gemini 3 Flash that's extremely fast and affordable.

![](https://pic.yupi.icu/1/image-20260106221514964.png)

Gemini's most impressive feature is its ultra-long context window - Gemini 3 Pro supports **1M tokens** (≈1 million Chinese characters) of input context.

What does this mean?

It can read an entire large project's code at once, remember extremely long conversation histories without easily "forgetting," and simultaneously analyze vast amounts of documentation and materials.

Moreover, Gemini 3 Pro performs exceptionally well in UI construction. Practical tests show its strong capabilities in front-end UI design, 3D model building, etc., even surpassing Claude and GPT-5 in certain scenarios.

![Developing a 3D animation website with one sentence](https://pic.yupi.icu/1/1763785739331-b643bd7d-85d6-42d9-8462-f842a8a790e6.png)

So if you need to handle large projects, analyze massive codebases, work on UI/front-end development, or have budget constraints but need powerful capabilities, Gemini is an excellent choice.

Gemini pricing and access methods:

- Gemini 3 Pro: $19.99/month
- API calls: Much cheaper than Claude and GPT
- Free version: Gemini 3 Flash offers some free quota, with several daily trials of the thinking model

## 6. Domestic Large Models - Cost-Effective Options

### What are the mainstream domestic models?

After covering the international big three, let's look at domestic large models. Today, domestic models have caught up in programming capabilities and even surpassed international models in some aspects!

- DeepSeek-V3 is open-source, completely free to use, with top-tier programming capabilities among domestic models and extremely low API prices, especially suitable for scenarios requiring extensive API calls.
- Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen Qwen outperformed GPT-5 in LiveCodeBench evaluations, with exceptional Chinese comprehension - very accurate when receiving requirements in Chinese.
- Zhipu GLM-4.7 from Tsinghua's team excels in multilingual programming, specifically optimized for Chinese development scenarios. Supporting 200K token contexts, it performs well in complex task execution and creative writing. I've been using GLM for development myself, finding its speed and effectiveness in generating complete projects excellent.
- Moonshot's Kimi supported ultra-long contexts (2 million characters) early on, unique among domestic models. Particularly suitable for handling large project codebases, capable of processing 500 files at once.
- Tencent's Hunyuan CodeBuddy deeply integrates with Tencent Cloud services, natively supporting 3000+ cloud APIs with Level 3 security certification, suitable for enterprises and very affordable.
- Baidu's ERNIE Bot offers free quotas and deep integration with Baidu's ecosystem (like Baidu Miaoda platform), ideal for creative small projects needing rapid commercialization.

### Advantages and Limitations of Domestic Models

Domestic models' biggest advantage is affordability, with API prices typically 1/10th of international models. They also understand Chinese more accurately, offer faster direct access within China, and comply with domestic regulations.

Of course, there are limitations. For the most complex tasks, top-tier capabilities still slightly trail Claude Opus 4.5, and tool/plugin support isn't as rich as international models.

However, for budget-constrained students and individual developers, those mainly working on Chinese projects or unable to access international services easily, or scenarios requiring extensive API calls, domestic models are excellent choices. Many of my AI products integrate DeepSeek, Tongyi Qianwen, or GLM - their free quotas are sufficient for daily learning.

And I believe domestic models have the potential to surpass international ones - I believe in the power of open source!

![Open Source Model Rankings](https://pic.yupi.icu/1/image-20260106215413048.png)

## 7. How to Choose the Right Model?

With so many models, each with its strengths, how do you choose?

Model selection mainly depends on two dimensions: your budget and your usage scenario.

### Choosing by Budget

Your budget directly determines which tools you can use.

If you have ample budget (¥100+/month), subscribing to Cursor Pro ($20) with Claude Opus 4.5 or Sonnet 4.5 offers the best current experience. Claude's high code quality makes it particularly suitable for complex and commercial projects.

If your budget is limited, make full use of free resources. DeepSeek is completely free + Tongyi Qianwen offers free quotas + Gemini 3 Flash provides daily free trials - these free resources combined are sufficient for learning and personal projects. Moreover, domestic models' API prices are very affordable; even paid plans can provide great value for just tens of yuan per month.

### Choosing by Scenario

Different development scenarios suit different models.

1) Learning phase: If you're still learning, primarily use free DeepSeek or Tongyi Qianwen, supplemented by Gemini 3 Flash's free quota. At this stage, the focus is familiarizing yourself with AI programming - free models are entirely adequate.

2) Front-end/UI projects: Gemini 3 Pro performs exceptionally well in front-end UI design. Practical tests show it generates high-quality interfaces and strong 3D modeling capabilities. If you mainly do front-end work, Gemini is an excellent choice.

3) Full-stack projects: Prioritize programming-strong Claude Sonnet for comprehensive front-end and back-end capabilities. Using it with Cursor provides a great development experience. For quickly generating complete projects, Zhipu GLM-4.7 also offers good speed and results.

4) Handling large codebases: Gemini 3 Pro's (1M token) ultra-long context capability is most suitable, able to analyze entire projects at once. Zhipu GLM-4.7's 200K token support can also handle medium-to-large project codebases including complete front-end and back-end.

5) Rapid iterative development: GPT-5 offers the fastest response, ideal for quickly validating ideas. Zhipu GLM also excels in generation speed.

6) Extensive testing and API calls: DeepSeek is completely free, and both DeepSeek and Tongyi Qianwen have extremely low API prices, suitable for scenarios requiring extensive calls - you can use them freely during testing.

### Personal Choice

For me, with relatively rich project development experience and many commercial projects under my belt, I generally prioritize more capable large models when choosing. For daily development, I mainly use Cursor + Claude Sonnet - this combination is comprehensive and effective.

Other scenarios:

- For particularly complex problems, I switch to Claude Opus.
- For rapid prototyping or idea validation, I use Gemini.
- When prioritizing speed, I choose Zhipu GLM, which performs well in quickly generating complete projects.
- For extensive testing, I use DeepSeek or Tongyi Qianwen APIs because they're relatively cheaper.

## Final Thoughts

By now, you should have a clear understanding of current mainstream AI models.

I want to emphasize again: **There's no absolutely best model, only the one that best suits your current needs.**

Moreover, AI models evolve rapidly - new models may emerge in a few months, or existing models' capabilities may change. I recommend checking monthly for updates on mainstream models, trying new releases, or following tech community evaluations and comparisons. Who knows when a better, cheaper new model might appear!

So don't blindly believe in any single model - learn to choose flexibly based on actual circumstances.

Tools and models are just means - what truly matters is what you want to do and what you can create. Choosing the right tools can make you twice as productive, but ultimately, your ideas and execution determine success or failure.

In the next article, I'll detail how to use no-code platforms, introducing the simplest and fastest Vibe Coding development methods.

Let's keep moving forward - full speed ahead!

![](https://pic.yupi.icu/1/image-20260106220555209.png)

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