Overview
Every model available to your AI agent consumes a different number of message credits per message, and offers different strengths in return. This page covers the recommended models at each credit tier, so you can balance capability against cost.What you can do:
See what you get at each credit tier, and choose the cheapest model that still handles your hardest conversations.
This page covers the recommended models. For the complete list of every available model and its credit cost, see Build → AI Model.
At a glance
Recommended models by credit cost
1 credit per message
Auto: Engineered by Chatbase for peak performance, speed, and efficiency. It adapts to every conversation, giving instant answers for everyday questions and frontier-grade intelligence for demanding ones, with multilingual and image understanding built in. One choice that handles every turn end to end, tools included. GPT-6 Luna: The fastest and most cost-efficient tier of OpenAI’s GPT-6 family, optimized for high-volume, low-latency tasks while retaining the core capabilities of the 6 series. Claude 5.5 Haiku: Anthropic’s fastest model, with adaptive thinking and a 1M token context window. It is built for high-volume, latency-sensitive work such as classification, extraction, and routing, at a fraction of the cost of larger models.2 credits per message
GPT-6.1 Sol: OpenAI’s most capable model for complex, multi-step conversations, with support for reasoning, image understanding, and tool use. Claude 5.5 Sonnet: The latest model in Anthropic’s Sonnet series, with strong reasoning, reliable instruction following, and tool use. It offers an excellent balance of intelligence and speed for everyday workflows. Gemini 3.8 Flash: Google’s most intelligent Flash model, built for long-horizon agentic work, software engineering, and complex enterprise workflows. It pairs a 1M token context window with tunable thinking, strong tool use, and image understanding, making it a strong fit for AI agents that need frontier-level reasoning at low latency.4 credits per message
GPT-5.5: One of OpenAI’s most capable models, delivering notably stronger reasoning, improved context retention, and better performance across highly demanding tasks. It delivers high accuracy and efficiency for enterprise workflows.5 credits per message
Claude 5.5 Opus: The latest and most capable model in Anthropic’s Opus series. It excels at demanding coding challenges, agentic workflows, and sophisticated problem-solving while managing context efficiently.How to choose
Rather than starting from the most capable model, start from the cheapest tier that handles your hardest conversations. Weigh these dimensions against your own traffic:Test your hardest real questions against two or three tiers before committing. If the cheaper model handles them, the extra credits buy you nothing.
Next steps
Build
See every available model and its credit cost, and set the one your AI agent uses.
Compare area
Run the same message against several models at once.
Best Practices
Instructions and data sources affect answer quality more than the model does.
Usage
Track how many message credits your AI agents are consuming.