{"head":{"title":"LLM Model Picker: Which Model to Use | OceanLab","description":"Get an LLM recommendation from your task, latency, budget and prompt size, with the reasons, a runner-up and the trade-off. The scoring rules are public.","canonical":"https://oceanlab.in/tools/llm-model-picker"},"tool":{"slug":"llm-model-picker","path":"/tools/llm-model-picker","name":"LLM model picker","h1":"LLM model picker","lede":"Describe the job and get a shortlist of models, with the reasons behind each score and the trade-off to the runner-up.","category":"ai","categoryTitle":"AI cost and planning","method":["Score = task fit + latency bonus + budget bonus + cost weight × cost score − penalties. The cost score runs from 0 to 1 on a log scale between the dearest and cheapest model for your monthly volume.","Tiers come from each provider's own positioning of the model or, where none was quoted, from its name and price band. The weights are OceanLab planning assumptions, not benchmark results.","Penalties apply when your prompts exceed a size where the model's price goes up, or when a price is flagged for re-checking. Context-window limits are not checked."],"sources":[{"label":"Anthropic API pricing","url":"https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing","checkedAt":"2026-10-23"},{"label":"OpenAI API pricing","url":"https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing","checkedAt":"2026-10-23"},{"label":"Google API pricing","url":"https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing","checkedAt":"2026-10-23"},{"label":"DeepSeek API pricing","url":"https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing","checkedAt":"2026-10-23"},{"label":"MiniMax API pricing","url":"https://platform.minimax.io/docs/pricing/overview","checkedAt":"2026-10-23"}],"faq":[{"question":"Is this based on benchmarks?","answer":"No. It uses published rules: the provider's own positioning of each model, its price for your workload, and long-context surcharges from the pricing pages. Test the shortlist on your own prompts."},{"question":"Why show a runner-up?","answer":"The top two are often close. The trade-off line says what you give up or gain by picking the second."},{"question":"Can I see the scoring?","answer":"Yes. Each model shows its points for task fit, latency, budget, cost and any penalties, with the reasons."},{"question":"Is anything I enter sent anywhere?","answer":"No. The tool runs in your browser and there is no sign-up. Nothing leaves the page unless you choose to email your result to OceanLab."}],"notice":{"title":"Guidance, not a benchmark.","text":"Picks come from published positioning, prices and stated rules, not quality tests. Try the shortlist on your own prompts."},"updatedAt":"2026-10-25"},"related":[{"href":"/tools/llm-api-cost-calculator","label":"LLM API cost","detail":"Enter your monthly tokens and the input, cached and output mix, and compare what each model would cost."},{"href":"/tools/fine-tuning-vs-rag","label":"Fine-tuning vs RAG","detail":"Answer eight questions about your use case to see whether retrieval, fine-tuning, both or a good prompt fits best."},{"href":"/tools/ai-chatbot-cost","label":"AI chatbot cost","detail":"Work out what an AI chatbot costs to run each month on each model, and roughly what it costs to build."}],"studies":[{"meta":{"slug":"sonde","industry":"ai","projectType":"AI evaluation dashboard","country":"fr","tags":["ai","enterprise","insurtech"],"compliances":["EU AI Act","GDPR (Article 9 health data)","DORA","HDS health data hosting","ACPR AI governance","OpenTelemetry GenAI conventions"],"cover":{"src":"/case-studies/sonde/01-home.png","width":1440,"height":1000}},"text":{"en":{"title":"Sonde - LLM Evaluation and Observability Platform with Release Gates","description":"Designed and built a clickable LLM evaluation and observability platform for the AI team of a French health mutual: redacted production traces span by span, release gates that block a prompt or model change when quality regresses, alerts with owners and ageing, and the monitoring record its risk and compliance teams can show a supervisor.","category":"AI & Automation / LLM Evaluation","client":"Mutuelle Serpolet"}}},{"meta":{"slug":"tekm","industry":"ai","projectType":"Workflow automation builder","country":"lt","tags":["ai","saas","enterprise"],"compliances":["GDPR","EU AI Act","EU Data Act","EU SCCs and EU-US DPF","SOC 2","OAuth 2.0 with PKCE","EU VAT (VIES)"],"cover":{"src":"/case-studies/tekm/01-home.png","width":1440,"height":1000}},"text":{"en":{"title":"Tekmė - No-Code Workflow Automation Builder with AI Steps","description":"Designed and built a clickable no-code automation builder for a Vilnius SaaS startup selling to EU operations teams: a node canvas with branches, error paths and AI steps that classify, extract, summarise or act as an agent, a cost estimate per run, and a run history where every step is recorded with personal data masked.","category":"AI Agents & Automation / Workflow Automation","client":"Vilkupis Labs"}}},{"meta":{"slug":"lektor","industry":"ai","projectType":"Code review agent","country":"ch","tags":["ai","enterprise","fintech"],"compliances":["Swiss Banking Act Art. 47","FINMA Circular 2023/1","FINMA Guidance 08/2024","revFADP","ArGV 3 Art. 26","OWASP Top 10","CWE"],"cover":{"src":"/case-studies/lektor/01-home.png","width":1440,"height":1000}},"text":{"en":{"title":"Lektor - AI Code Review Agent That Comments but Never Merges, Hosted Inside a Private Bank","description":"Designed and built a clickable AI code review agent for the engineering team of a Zurich private bank: it reviews every merge request on GitLab and GitHub Enterprise with models hosted in the bank's own tenancy, masks client data and secrets before any model sees the diff, posts inline findings with rule, CWE and suggested patch, and never approves or merges.","category":"AI Agents & Automation / Code Review Agent","client":"Brunnacher & Cie AG"}}},{"meta":{"slug":"kaganek","industry":"ai","projectType":"RAG knowledge assistant","country":"pl","tags":["ai","enterprise"],"compliances":["GDPR","EU AI Act","ISO/IEC 27001","ISO/IEC 42001","Polish labour law"],"cover":{"src":"/case-studies/kaganek/01-home.png","width":1440,"height":1000}},"text":{"en":{"title":"Kaganek - RAG Knowledge Assistant with Citations and Permissions Intact","description":"Designed and built a clickable internal knowledge assistant for a Kraków consulting engineering firm: staff ask in Polish or English and get answers built only from the firm's own SharePoint, Confluence, Google Drive and file share documents, with every claim linked to its source passage and an honest \"I don't know\" when the sources are weak.","category":"AI Agents & Automation / Knowledge Assistant","client":"Modrzew Engineering"}}}],"more":[{"href":"/case-studies/industry/ai","label":"AI agents & automation case studies","detail":"Every OceanLab product build in AI agents & automation."},{"href":"/case-studies","label":"All case studies","detail":"Every OceanLab product build."},{"href":"/ai-automation","label":"AI automation","detail":"AI built into real business workflows, with people in charge."}],"today":"2026-10-25"}