Which LLM should you code with when the price matters?

If cost is no object, then of course you're coding with our only S-tier model, Claude 4.5 Haiku. You're probably using Opus 4.5 to plan your tasks out too, you fat cat. But what if you don't have Claude's expense account? Two options stand out.

You want the best code and you can afford to wait

You're a patient man. Maybe because you're the kind of guy who runs npm install on hotel Wi-Fi. Or maybe it's because you're using Brokk's worktrees to multitask. Good news: OpenAI has got your back, big time. GPT-5 Mini is even smarter than Haiku for about a quarter of the cost. Sure, it's not exactly fast, but when you're pinching pennies you gotta decide what you're willing to live without.

You want champagne results now on a beer-coding budget

One model stands out in the category of "almost as fast as Haiku, and almost as smart, for way way way less money." And that model is...

... Grok Code Fast 1. Not only does it do well in our Power Ranking, it also beats out Sonnet, Opus, and the other big names in Openrouter market share. No shade if you were sleeping on it, we were too, but GCF1 is legit.

Where Brokk stands

We love GPT-5 Mini, but we're even more impressed with Grok Code Fast 1, to the point that we're making it the new default model on Brokk's Free Tier, because we love you. And also because we love not going bankrupt paying for your infinite loops. It turns out that what’s good for our wallet is actually great for your workflow. You're welcome!