Best Models to Use with OpenClaw in 2026 (Ranked by Task)
Not all models are equal — and more expensive doesn't always mean better for your use case. Here's the definitive 2026 model comparison: cost per million tokens, real-world performance, and exactly which model to use for each task.
Full Model Comparison Table (2026)
Prices as of March 2026. Always verify current pricing on the provider's website before making cost projections.
| Model | Input ($/1M) | Output ($/1M) | Context | Speed | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Sonnet 4.6⭐ Default | $3.00 | $15.00 | 200K | Fast | Daily work, coding, writing |
| Claude Opus 4.6 | $15.00 | $75.00 | 200K | Slower | Architecture, critical decisions |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | $0.80 | $4.00 | 200K | Very Fast | Research, triage, sub-agents |
| Gemini Flash 2.5 | $0.15 | $0.60 | 1M | Very Fast | High-volume, long docs |
| Gemini Flash Lite | $0.075 | $0.30 | 1M | Fastest | Heartbeat, compaction |
| Kimi K2.5 | $2.00 | $8.00 | 2M | Fast | Massive codebase analysis |
| Grok 4 | $3.00 | $15.00 | 256K | Fast | X/Twitter, real-time web |
Claude Sonnet 4.6
The Daily Driver
$3.00 input / $15.00 output per 1M tokensSonnet is the sweet spot for most OpenClaw users. It's capable enough for complex coding, reasoning, and writing tasks, while being affordable enough to use as your default model all day.
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Use for:
- →Main agent (your primary conversational agent)
- →Complex coding and debugging
- →Multi-step reasoning and planning
- →Writing long-form content with quality
- →Code review with nuanced feedback
- →Architecture discussions
This should be your default model for interactive work. Use Haiku for background tasks to keep costs down.
Ready to try OpenClaw?
Follow the full setup guide to get up and running in under an hour. Not sure about costs? Use the cost calculator to see what it would run you.
Claude Opus 4.6
The Architect
$15.00 input / $75.00 output per 1M tokensOpus is Anthropic's most capable model. It's also 5x more expensive than Sonnet. Use it sparingly and deliberately — only when you've confirmed Sonnet isn't good enough.
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Use for:
- →Critical system architecture decisions
- →Complex legal or financial document analysis
- →Tasks where quality difference is measurable and matters
- →Deep technical research requiring highest accuracy
Never use Opus as your default. Evaluate each task explicitly — can Sonnet do this well enough? If yes, use Sonnet.
Ready to try OpenClaw?
Follow the full setup guide to get up and running in under an hour. Not sure about costs? Use the cost calculator to see what it would run you.
Claude Haiku 4.5
The Workhorse
$0.80 input / $4.00 output per 1M tokensHaiku handles 70% of what most OpenClaw users need daily. Don't let the "small" label fool you — Haiku 4 is genuinely capable for focused tasks.
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Use for:
- →Web research and content summarization
- →Email triage and classification
- →Data extraction from web pages
- →Simple code generation (under 100 lines)
- →All sub-agent workers doing research/fetch tasks
- →LCM context compaction
Make Haiku your default for cron jobs and sub-agents. Reserve Sonnet for interactive tasks where quality matters.
Ready to try OpenClaw?
Follow the full setup guide to get up and running in under an hour. Not sure about costs? Use the cost calculator to see what it would run you.
Gemini Flash 2.5 & Flash Lite
Infrastructure
Flash: $0.15 input / Flash Lite: $0.075 input per 1M tokensGoogle's Flash models are the cheapest capable models available. Flash Lite is ideal for infrastructure-level tasks where you need many small completions. Flash 2.5 has a 1M token context window — ideal for loading entire codebases.
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Use for:
- →Heartbeat model (silent keep-alive pings)
- →Context compaction (LCM compaction)
- →Background monitors and watchers
- →Loading and summarizing large documents (Flash 2.5)
- →High-volume sub-agents with simple jobs
Use Flash Lite for heartbeat and compaction. Use Flash 2.5 when you need to load a very large codebase or document.
Ready to try OpenClaw?
Follow the full setup guide to get up and running in under an hour. Not sure about costs? Use the cost calculator to see what it would run you.
Kimi K2.5
The Long Context Specialist
$2.00 input / $8.00 output per 1M tokensKimi K2.5 has a 2M token context window — the largest available. This makes it uniquely capable for tasks that require loading entire large codebases, book-length documents, or years of conversation history simultaneously.
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What's shipping in AI tools, every Monday. No fluff.
Use for:
- →Analyzing entire large codebases in one context
- →Working with book-length documents
- →Cross-file refactoring with full project context
- →Long-term project analysis with full history
Niche use case but excellent when you need it. If your task requires loading more than 200K tokens of context, Kimi K2.5 is the only viable option.
Ready to try OpenClaw?
Follow the full setup guide to get up and running in under an hour. Not sure about costs? Use the cost calculator to see what it would run you.
Grok 4
The Real-Time Intelligence Model
$3.00 input / $15.00 output per 1M tokensGrok 4 has unique access to real-time X/Twitter data, making it invaluable for social listening, trend monitoring, and tracking conversations on X. It also performs well on general tasks at Sonnet-level pricing.
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What's shipping in AI tools, every Monday. No fluff.
Use for:
- →X/Twitter search, trending topics, user lookup
- →Real-time news and events monitoring
- →Social media sentiment analysis
- →Anything requiring X platform data
Use Grok specifically when you need X/Twitter data. For general tasks, Sonnet is equivalent at the same price.
Ready to try OpenClaw?
Follow the full setup guide to get up and running in under an hour. Not sure about costs? Use the cost calculator to see what it would run you.
Task-to-Model Mapping
| Task | Use This Model | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Main conversational agent | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Best quality/cost for daily work |
| Web research sub-agents | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Fast + cheap for simple extraction |
| Heartbeat / keep-alive | Gemini Flash Lite | Cheapest, no real intelligence needed |
| LCM context compaction | Gemini Flash Lite | Summarization doesn't need Sonnet |
| Complex code review | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Reasoning quality matters |
| Architecture decisions | Claude Opus 4.6 | Only task where Opus is worth it |
| X/Twitter data queries | Grok 4 | Unique real-time X access |
| Full codebase analysis | Kimi K2.5 | 2M context handles any codebase |
| Email triage | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Simple classification task |
| Morning briefing cron | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Runs daily — keep costs minimal |
Recommended Configuration
{
"model": {
"default": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
"heartbeat": "google/gemini-flash-lite",
"compaction": "google/gemini-flash-lite",
"fallback": [
"anthropic/claude-haiku-4",
"google/gemini-flash-2.5"
],
"cacheRetention": "long",
"cacheSystemPrompt": true
},
"subAgents": {
"defaultModel": "anthropic/claude-haiku-4",
"researchModel": "anthropic/claude-haiku-4",
"codeModel": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6"
}
}Keep Reading
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