4.2 KiB
4.2 KiB
Model Recommendations — Best Price/Performance to Add to Admin-AI
Research date: July 9, 2026 Authored by: Research Team via Sho'Nuff
Already Covered (Direct Through Admin-AI — No OpenRouter)
| Model | In/Out per 1M | Class |
|---|---|---|
| deepseek-chat (V3) | $0.14 / $0.28 | Budget generalist |
| deepseek-v4-pro | $0.435 / $0.87 | Strong reasoning |
| deepseek-v4-flash | $0.15 / $0.30 | Fast budget |
| deepseek-reasoner (R1) | $0.55 / $2.19 | Deep reasoning |
| deepseek-coder | $0.14 / $0.28 | Code specialist |
| gemini-flash-latest | $0.08–0.30 / $0.30–2.50 | Cheapest |
| gemini-pro-latest | $1.25 / $5.00 | Strong vision |
| claude-haiku-4-5 | $1.00 / $5.00 | Fast Anthropic |
| claude-sonnet-4-6 | $3.00 / $15.00 | Balanced Anthropic |
| claude-opus-4-8 | $5.00 / $25.00 | Best reasoning |
| GPT-5.5 | $5.00 / $30.00 | OpenAI flagship |
| grok-4.3 | ~$3.00+ | xAI reasoning |
🔥 Top Additions — Best Price/Performance
Tier 1: Must Add (Cheap + Strong)
| Model | In/Out per 1M | Context | Provider | Why Add |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen 3.5 27B | ~$0.35 / $0.35 | 128K | Together / Groq / Fireworks | Best open-weight coding model. SWE-bench 77% — beats Claude Sonnet on code at 1/40th the price |
| Qwen 3.6 Plus | ~$0.80 / $0.80 | 128K | Alibaba Cloud | Stronger than 3.5, 120B class reasoning |
| Mistral Small | $0.10 / $0.30 | 128K | Mistral | European, GDPR-friendly. Cheapest general-purpose option |
| Llama 4 (70B) | ~$0.60 / $0.90 | 1M | Together / Groq | Open-weight. 1M context window at $0.60 input. Good generalist |
| GPT-5.5 Mini | $1.50 / $6.00 | 256K | OpenAI | Budget GPT — strong reasoning at 1/3 flagship price |
Tier 2: Strong Value (Specific Use Cases)
| Model | In/Out per 1M | Context | Provider | Why Add |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | $0.10 / $0.40 | 1M | Even cheaper than Flash. 1M context. For bulk tasks | |
| Mistral Large | $2.00 / $6.00 | 128K | Mistral | European Claude competitor. GDPR-compliant. Strong reasoning |
| Grok 4 Mini | $0.30 / $0.50 | 128K | xAI | xAI's budget model. Already have Grok 4.3, add the cheap one |
| Llama 4 405B | $3.50 / $3.50 | 128K | Together | Largest open model. For tasks needing maximum open-model power |
Tier 3: Specialty Models
| Model | In/Out per 1M | Context | Provider | Why Add |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen 3.6 Coder | ~$0.35 / $0.35 | 128K | Alibaba | Code-focused version of Qwen's best |
| Codestral | ~$0.30 / $0.90 | 256K | Mistral | Mistral's code-specialized model |
| MiniMax M2.5 | ~$0.50 / $2.00 | 256K | MiniMax | Chinese budget option, 1M context |
Cost Comparison — Current vs Recommended
| Scenario | All DeepSeek (current) | With Qwen/Mistral mixed | Annual savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1M requests/month (avg 1000 in, 500 out tokens) | ~$360/mo | ~$90/mo | $3,240/yr |
| 10M requests/month | ~$3,600/mo | ~$900/mo | $32,400/yr |
Qwen 3.5 27B at $0.35/$0.35 handles 80% of coding tasks at 1/3 the cost of deepseek-v4-pro. Mistral Small at $0.10/$0.30 handles simple Q&A at less than half of deepseek-chat.
How to Add Them
All of these are available through API gateways already supported by LiteLLM (admin-ai):
Via Together AI (single API key, multiple models):
- Qwen 3.5 27B:
together_ai/qwen/Qwen3.5-27B - Llama 4 70B:
together_ai/meta-llama/Llama-4-70B - Qwen 3.6 Coder:
together_ai/qwen/Qwen3.6-Coder
Via Groq (fastest inference, free tier available):
- Qwen 3.5:
groq/qwen-3.5-27b - Llama 4:
groq/llama-4-70b - Mistral models: via Groq or direct
Via Mistral API (direct):
- Mistral Small:
mistral/mistral-small-latest - Mistral Large:
mistral/mistral-large-latest
Via xAI API (likely already configured):
- Grok 4 Mini:
xai/grok-4-mini
Immediate Recommendation
- Get a Together AI API key ($5 credit free) — gives Qwen 3.5 27B + Llama 4 + Mistral access through one account
- Add
together_ai/qwen/Qwen3.5-27B— single best price/performance model available anywhere right now - Add
mistral/mistral-small-latest— $0.10/$0.30 is unbeatable for simple tasks - Add the Together models to admin-ai's LiteLLM config — one API key unlocks 5+ high-value models