/guides

Developer Guides

Practical guides for choosing AI models — with live benchmark data and pricing.

Claude API Key: Getting Started

Step-by-step guide to getting a Claude API key. Create an account, install the SDK, and make your first API call.

An honest comparison of the two $20/mo AI subscriptions. Features, model quality, and which is better for coding, writing, and research.

Which AI model performs at business scale? Customer support, data analysis, document processing, and automation — ranked with cost modeling.

The best models for conversational, intent-driven coding. Why the model matters more than the IDE, and which ones handle ambiguity best.

How token pricing works, hidden costs most people miss, and strategies to reduce your AI spend. Includes an interactive cost calculator.

Free and affordable AI options ranked by quality. Math help, essay feedback, research assistance, and privacy considerations.

What tokens are, how to count them, and an interactive calculator to estimate LLM costs across any model.

Open-weight models ranked by benchmark performance. Includes hosted options and guidance on self-hosting vs API access.

What's actually free in 2026, what it costs you in practice, and which free model is worth building on.

Open-weight models you can run locally for code generation. Hardware requirements, quality tradeoffs, and our picks by GPU tier.