Choosing the Right Model
Match the model to the task — the biggest lever for managing token consumption.
Opus
Deepest reasoning • Highest cost
- Architecture & design decisions
- Complex debugging across systems
- Security analysis & CA policy review
- Multi-step reasoning & planning
Sonnet
Everyday workhorse • Best balance
- Script writing & code generation
- Log analysis & troubleshooting
- Drafting runbooks & documentation
- Most day-to-day DevOps & IAM tasks
Haiku
Fast & lightweight • Lowest cost
- Quick lookups & definitions
- Boilerplate & template generation
- Simple reformatting & conversion
- Summarizing short documents
Rule of thumb:
Start with Sonnet. Escalate to Opus when the task requires deep reasoning or you're not getting good results. Drop to Haiku for quick, simple tasks. In Claude Code, use Opus plan mode — Opus plans the approach, Sonnet executes it — best of both at lower cost.