Which AI model should you use, and when?
| Feature | ChatGPT (5.6 Sol) | Claude (Fable 5/Opus 5) | Gemini (3.6 Flash/3.1 Pro) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developer | OpenAI | Anthropic | Google DeepMind |
| Free Tier | GPT-5.6 Terra (limited) | Sonnet (limited) | Flash (generous) |
| Paid Price | $20/month (Plus) | $20/month (Pro) | $20/month (Google AI Pro) |
| Context Window | 1M tokens | 1M tokens | 1M tokens |
| File Upload | Yes — docs, images, code | Yes — docs, images, code | Yes — docs, images, video, audio |
| Image Generation | Yes (ChatGPT Images 2.0) | No (text only) | Yes (Nano Banana Pro) |
| Web Search | Yes (built-in) | Yes (built-in) | Yes (Google Search) |
| Code Execution | Yes (Code Interpreter) | Yes (Artifacts / Analysis) | Yes (code execution) |
| API Available | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Note (13 June 2026): Anthropic has disabled Fable 5 (and Mythos 5) for all users to comply with a US government export-control directive restricting foreign-national access. Opus 4.8 is currently the top accessible Claude model; the table reflects Fable 5's specs for reference. Update (2 July 2026): The US government lifted the export controls on 30 June, and Anthropic restored Fable 5 for users globally from 1 July 2026 (Claude.ai, the Claude Platform, Claude Code and Cowork); Mythos 5 is also being re-enabled. Fable 5 is once again the top-tier Claude model. Update (26 June 2026): OpenAI previewed the GPT-5.6 family (Sol / Terra / Luna) as a government-restricted limited preview to a small set of partners; GPT-5.5 remains OpenAI’s top generally available model, so the table reflects 5.5. Wider GPT-5.6 access is expected in the coming weeks. Update (8 July 2026): The US government lifted the preview restrictions on 8 July 2026, and OpenAI has confirmed GPT-5.6 (Sol / Terra / Luna) is launching publicly this week — from Thursday 9 July 2026 — reaching general availability across the API and ChatGPT over the following weeks. We’ll refresh the table to the Sol / Terra / Luna tiers once they are generally available. Update (10 July 2026): GPT-5.6 (Sol / Terra / Luna) reached general availability on 9 July 2026 across ChatGPT, the API and Codex. Pricing per 1M tokens: Sol (flagship) $5 / $30, Terra (balanced) $2.50 / $15, Luna (fast) $1 / $6. GPT-5.6 Sol is now OpenAI’s top model, and free and Go users default to GPT-5.6 Terra; the header above is updated accordingly. Update (19 July 2026): Anthropic’s promotional free access to Fable 5 for Pro, Max, Team and premium Enterprise seats ended at 11:59pm PT on 19 July 2026, after three extensions. Fable 5 remains available but from 20 July 2026 draws on usage credits at its standard $10 / $50 per million tokens rather than the included weekly allowance; Opus 4.8 and Sonnet 5 remain included on paid subscriptions, and Sonnet 5 is the default model on Free and Pro. Anthropic says it intends to return Fable 5 to subscriptions once it has more compute. Note also that Opus 4.8, Sonnet 5 and Fable 5 all now carry a 1M-token context window at standard pricing — the table is updated accordingly. Correction (21 July 2026): Anthropic confirmed that from 20 July 2026 Fable 5 is not removed from subscriptions outright. It is now a standard inclusion on Max, Team Premium and legacy premium Enterprise seats at up to 50% of weekly usage limits. Only Pro and Team Standard move to usage credits at $10 / $50 per million tokens, and those users receive a one-off $100 credit first. Opus 4.8 and Sonnet 5 remain included across paid plans, with Sonnet 5 the default on Free and Pro. Update (24 July 2026): Anthropic released Claude Opus 5, a near-frontier model that reaches roughly Fable 5–level intelligence at half the price and sets new state-of-the-art results on coding and knowledge-work benchmarks. Standard pricing is $5 / $25 per million tokens (the same as Opus 4.8, and half of Fable 5’s input price), with an optional Fast mode at $10 / $50 running about 2.5× faster. Opus 5 adds a per-request reasoning-effort setting (low / medium / high) so you can dial cost against depth. It succeeds Opus 4.8 as the included mid-tier Claude model on paid plans; the header above now reflects Opus 5. Update (28 July 2026): Google made Gemini 3.6 Flash generally available on 21 July 2026 — a 1M-token workhorse that is faster and cheaper than 3.5 Flash (around $1.50 / $7.50 per million tokens), now the default Flash model; the header above is updated accordingly. Gemini 3.5 Pro remains delayed, so 3.1 Pro is still the top Pro tier. For reference, xAI’s Grok 4.5 (public from 9 July 2026, roughly $2 / $6 per million tokens) also sits in the “Opus-class, faster and cheaper” band alongside these models. Update (30 July 2026): OpenAI cut GPT-5.6 API prices as enterprises push for clearer returns on AI spend. Luna drops about 80% to $0.20 / $1.20 per million tokens (from $1 / $6) and Terra falls roughly 20% to about $2 / $12; Sol’s pricing is unchanged at $5 / $30. OpenAI credited efficiency gains from GPT-5.6 rewriting and optimising its own inference stack.
| Task | Best Model | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Long document analysis (50+ pages) | Claude / Gemini | Largest context windows; Claude excels at precise extraction |
| Creative writing & copywriting | Claude | Most nuanced prose; best at following style and tone instructions |
| Code generation & debugging | ChatGPT / Claude | Both excellent; ChatGPT has Code Interpreter; Claude has Artifacts |
| Data analysis & visualisation | ChatGPT | Code Interpreter executes Python and generates charts in-conversation |
| Image generation | ChatGPT | Native ChatGPT Images 2.0 generation; iterative editing in conversation |
| Email drafting & comms | Claude | Best at matching professional tone and following specific formatting requests |
| Research with citations | Gemini | Tight Google Search integration provides source links inline |
| Video/audio analysis | Gemini | Only model with native multimodal video and audio understanding |
| Legal/compliance review | Claude | Strongest at careful, nuanced analysis with appropriate caveats |
| Brainstorming & ideation | Any — try all three | Each model has different creative tendencies; compare outputs for the richest ideas |
Read our detailed analysis comparing these models across real-world tasks with side-by-side output examples.
Read the Full Comparison