What each model in the catalog is genuinely good at, in plain language. Cost per typical message assumes ~15.5k input + 150 output tokens, uncached, computed from the live rates in openclaw.json (the same source the spend log uses). No benchmark scores here — just honest guidance.
deepseek-v4-flash
Eco gear$0.0022 per typical message
$0.14 in / $0.28 out per 1M tokens · cached read $0.028
Good at
The bargain bin that isn't junk: greetings, quick one-fact lookups, short rewrites and translations, high-volume chatter where 'competent and instant' beats 'brilliant'.
Overkill for
Nothing — it's the floor. The real risk is the opposite: it underpowers tool calls, code, and anything subtle. That's why Cruise never sends tool-y messages here.
Speed feel
Snappy — answers feel instant.
Ask it to…
“settle quick facts all afternoon — 'what's the capital of X?' — for a fifth of a cent each.”
gemini-3-5-flash
Comfort gear$0.0050 per typical message
$0.3 in / $2.5 out per 1M tokens · cached read $0.03
Good at
The everyday workhorse. Reliable tool calling (Cruise's tool floor), summaries, drafting, solid reasoning at about a tenth of Sport-gear prices.
Overkill for
'hey' and one-word lookups — DeepSeek handles those for half the price. Also not the pick for the subtlest judgment calls; that's what Sport gears are for.
Speed feel
Fast — keeps up with conversation easily.
Ask it to…
“read a file, search the web, summarize a thread — routine tool-y tasks it just handles.”
gpt-5-6-luna
$0.016 per typical message
$1 in / $6 out per 1M tokens · cached read $0.1
Good at
The budget GPT: general chat, drafting, light reasoning with GPT polish at a fraction of the flagship's price.
Overkill for
Single-fact lookups — DeepSeek and Flash do those for less, just as well.
Speed feel
Fast.
Ask it to…
“draft the email or brainstorm twenty names — GPT flavor on a budget.”
gemini-3-1-pro
$0.033 per typical message
$2 in / $12 out per 1M tokens · cached read $0.2
Good at
Long-context and document work — Google's pro tier shines when you feed it a lot: big PDFs, whole repos, multimodal inputs.
Overkill for
Casual chat and short tasks, where Flash is nearly as good for a sixth of the price.
Speed feel
Moderate.
Ask it to…
“chew through this long document and give me the structured brief.”
gpt-5-6-terra
$0.041 per typical message
$2.5 in / $15 out per 1M tokens · cached read $0.25
Good at
The balanced GPT: most reasoning tasks, coding help, analysis — a sweet-spot price/quality point for everyday serious work.
Overkill for
Small talk and one-liners; the lower gears earn their keep there.
Speed feel
Moderate — you can watch it think, but barely.
Ask it to…
“review this function, explain the bug, then rewrite it cleaner.”
kimi-k3
Sport — dev primarySport — dev-desktop primarySport — dev-visual primary$0.049 per typical message
$3 in / $15 out per 1M tokens · cached read $0.3
Good at
Strong reasoning and long context at a near-flagship price. The dev agent's daily driver — comfortable with code, debugging, and multi-step analysis.
Overkill for
Chatter and one-liners; Cruise sends those down-tier automatically.
Speed feel
Moderate.
Ask it to…
“debug this hairy issue and plan the fix step by step.”
claude-opus-4-8
Sport — default primarySport — main primary$0.081 per typical message
$5 in / $25 out per 1M tokens · cached read $0.5
Good at
Top-tier reasoning, writing, and judgment with a distinctive voice. The main agent's primary — what 'Sport' means day to day. Nuanced long-form, careful decisions, code that reads like a human wrote it.
Overkill for
Greetings, lookups, anything routine — that's exactly what Cruise routes away from it.
Speed feel
Deliberate — takes its time and spends it well.
Ask it to…
“write the message that has to land exactly right.”
gpt-5-6-sol
$0.082 per typical message
$5 in / $30 out per 1M tokens · cached read $0.5
Good at
The GPT flagship: hardest reasoning, high-stakes drafting, complex code — when the answer has to be right and the problem has teeth.
Overkill for
Anything short or routine. A 'thanks' costs flagship money here.
Speed feel
Deliberate — flagship pace.
Ask it to…
“reason through the gnarly architecture decision and stress-test my plan.”
claude-fable-5
Max gear$0.163 per typical message
$10 in / $50 out per 1M tokens · cached read $1
Good at
The top shelf — the hardest, longest, most nuanced work: big refactors, high-stakes documents, problems where the second-best answer isn't good enough.
Overkill for
Almost everything daily — it costs double Opus. Manual-only gear for a reason.
Speed feel
The slowest — big-model pace, worth it when it matters.
Ask it to…
“take the whole problem and do it right, cost be damned.”