Which AI Model Should You Use on Velona? A Practical Guide to Choosing Between 300+ Models
Start every project on DeepSeek V4 Flash (₹2.90 per 1M input tokens), and switch to a stronger model only for the specific tasks where it falls short. For hard coding and analysis that is usually Claude Sonnet 5 or GPT-5. For images and audio it is Gemini 2.5 Flash or GPT-4o mini.
Below are concrete picks for each kind of task, with model IDs and rupee prices so you can decide in a minute.
Best model by task
Prices are Velona's rupee prices per 1M input tokens as of 4 October 2026. Output tokens cost more, and every model page shows both.
| Task | Start with | Upgrade to |
|---|---|---|
| Everyday coding and coding agents | DeepSeek V4 Flash, deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash, ₹2.90 | DeepSeek V4 Pro (₹21.63), then Claude Sonnet 5 or GPT-5 for the hardest bugs |
| Chatbots and support replies | DeepSeek V4 Flash, ₹2.90 | GPT-4o mini, openai/gpt-4o-mini, ₹15.54, if you need image input |
| Writing, emails and marketing copy | GPT-4o mini, ₹15.54 | Claude Sonnet 5, anthropic/claude-sonnet-5, ₹207.22, for long or polished writing |
| Summarising long documents | DeepSeek V4 Flash (1M-token context), ₹2.90 | Gemini 2.5 Flash, google/gemini-2.5-flash, ₹31.08 (1M context, multimodal) |
| Reading images, PDFs, audio or video | Gemini 2.5 Flash, ₹31.08 | Claude Sonnet 5 for detailed reasoning about the content |
| Extracting data into JSON | GPT-4o mini, ₹15.54 | DeepSeek V4 Pro, deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro, ₹21.63 |
| Very long context (huge codebases or books) | Grok 4.20, x-ai/grok-4.20, ₹129.51, 2M-token context | Claude Sonnet 5, 1M-token context |
Not sure which coding model to pick? Our coding leaderboard lists coding scores next to rupee prices, and our guide to the cheapest models for coding agents shows what a full task costs on each.
The rule that saves the most money
- Build the whole feature on a cheap model first. Most tasks work fine on DeepSeek V4 Flash or GPT-4o mini.
- Find the specific steps that fail. Usually it is one part, such as tricky reasoning or a long, polished answer.
- Route only those steps to a stronger model. Everything else stays cheap.
The difference is large. A chat reply of 1,000 tokens in and 500 out costs under ₹0.01 on DeepSeek V4 Flash, about ₹0.05 on GPT-4o mini, and about ₹0.73 on Claude Sonnet 5.
How to switch models
Velona puts every model behind one OpenAI-compatible API, so switching is a one-line change:
from openai import OpenAI
import os
client = OpenAI(api_key=os.environ["VELONA_API_KEY"], base_url="https://velona.in/v1")
for model in ["deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash", "openai/gpt-4o-mini", "anthropic/claude-sonnet-5"]:
response = client.chat.completions.create(
model=model,
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Summarise the plot of Sholay in two sentences."}],
max_tokens=120,
)
print(model, "\n", response.choices[0].message.content, "\n")Run your own prompt through 2 or 3 candidates like this, then compare the answers and the rupee cost of each call on your usage page. You can also try prompts in the browser chat without writing code, or see benchmark rankings on the model leaderboard.
Quick cheat sheet
- Cheapest that is still good: DeepSeek V4 Flash
- Safe all-rounder: GPT-4o mini
- Images, audio, video: Gemini 2.5 Flash
- Hardest coding and writing: Claude Sonnet 5 or GPT-5
- Longest context: Grok 4.20
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI model for coding?
For value, DeepSeek V4 Flash: it scores 65 on the coding index shown on our leaderboard at ₹2.90 per 1M input tokens. For the strongest results, Claude Fable 5 and GPT-5 score highest but cost far more.
What is the cheapest AI model?
DeepSeek V4 Flash is the cheapest strong model on Velona. The cheapest models page lists more budget options.
Can I use different models in the same app?
Yes. With one Velona key you can call any model from any part of your app, which makes routing easy.
New to Velona? Get your first API key and start with ₹10 via UPI.