How to Choose the Right Model

A guide to selecting the best model for your use case.

Decision Framework

1. Identify Your Task Type

Task	Run type	Try first
Generate images	text-to-image	Nano Banana Pro, Seedream 5 Pro
Edit images	image-to-image	Nano Banana Pro, Qwen Image 2
Create videos	text-to-video	Veo 3.1, Kling 3, Seedance 2.5
Animate images	first-to-video	Kling 3, Veo 3.1, Wan 3
Generate speech	text-to-speech	ElevenLabs Eleven 3, Index TTS 2
Create music	text-to-music	Minimax Music 2.6, Eleven Music
Transcribe audio	speech-to-text	Whisper Large v3 Turbo
Talking avatars	digital-human	OmniHuman 1.5, Kling Avatar 2
Create 3D models	image-to-3d	Tripo P1, Tripo H3.1
Chat	chat	GPT-5.5, Claude Opus 4.7

The run type is the third segment of the model slug, so it also determines the endpoint you call.

2. Consider Quality vs. Speed

Model families usually publish several variants, and the suffix tells you the trade-off:

Priority	Look for
Highest quality	-pro variants — slower and more expensive
Balanced	The unsuffixed base model
Fastest	-fast / -turbo variants
Lowest cost	-lite / -mini variants

Where a model exposes channels, that's a second dial on the same trade-off: economy is cheaper than stable, which is cheaper than official. Changing the channel is often enough — you may not need a different model.

3. Consider Resolution

Resolution and duration are the biggest cost multipliers, so don't pay for more than the destination needs:

Output	Typical setting	Use case
Draft image	1k	Prompt iteration
Final image	2k and up	Print, large display
Draft video	480p	Composition checks
Standard video	720p	Web and social
Premium video	1080p	Production

Accepted values differ per model — check the model's page for what it supports.

Comparing Models Empirically

Rather than relying on a static ranking, measure on your own prompts. The result object gives you what you need:

• timings.api_call — time actually spent at the provider, the fair latency comparison
• Cost per task — visible in your dashboard per request

Run the same prompt across two or three candidates with a fixed seed, then compare output quality against those two numbers.

Tips

• Start cheap, iterate — Draft with a fast, low-cost model or the economy channel, then switch for the final render
• Check model pages — Each model lists its own parameters, channels, and price
• Fix the seed when comparing — Otherwise you're comparing two random samples, not two models
• Try the web interface first — Faster than wiring up API calls to evaluate a model

Next Steps

• How to Write Better Prompts — Improve your results
• How to Reduce Costs — Optimize spending