Which AI services are best, and which ones am I still using?

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 20:18:49 +0800

Friends and family often ask which AI service I use. I also see them tinkering and saying “this doesn’t work, that doesn’t work.” I’ve played with them for a long time and paid for many plans, so here’s a quick summary for my own record.

AI services I currently use

Claude 🏆
Mainly Sonnet 4.5, then Opus. Why not use Opus first? Too pricey—Pro user here, Opus burns through quota fast; even Sonnet can feel tight.
Gemini 🥈
Mostly Gemini 3 Pro and Gemini 3 Flash. G3 is great; think of Flash as Sonnet-level, Pro as Opus-level. Logic-wise Pro still isn’t as strong as Opus to me, but not bad. For speed and token savings: Flash-first, Pro-second. On CLI, just use Auto and let Google pick.
GPT 🥉
Mainly gpt-5.2-codex. I stick to the latest coding model. It blends Claude + Gemini: weaker than Gemini for UI, sometimes stronger than Claude; overall solid. I use it as backup when Claude/Gemini fall short—still a heavy hitter.
Domestic models 🛞
DeepSeek, Doubao, etc. I use them for things like my blog’s English translation. If you don’t know which to pick, buy ByteDance’s Coding Plan (first month ~¥8.9). Lots of quota, ClaudeCode-compatible, can switch among Doubao-Seed-Code, GLM-4.7, DeepSeek-V3.2, Kimi-K2-thinking, or Auto scheduling.
Responsibly speaking, Doubao-Seed-Code feels the best to me. I’ve stopped using Qianwen; tell me if you have good reasons to return.

Fangzhou Coding Plan supports Doubao, GLM, DeepSeek, Kimi, etc. Tools unlimited. Now extra 10% off—low to ¥8.9 if you subscribe more.
Subscribe: https://volcengine.com/L/NVE4fE-MRug/ Invite code: Y6N78MY9
GitHub Copilot 🔪
Chat agent includes Claude Opus/Gemini 3, so I exhaust those quotas. Copilot chat quota is monthly and goes fast, but code completion and commit messages are unlimited—so I keep using it.

Cost of these AI services

AI burns cash; free rides aren’t sustainable. My payment stacks:

Claude Pro: Niger region, ~¥80+/mo.
GPT Plus: Turkey region, ~¥80+/mo.
Gemini: still on a past promo; later I’ll likely pay by Visa, ~~$20/mo (~~¥140+).
GitHub Copilot: $10/mo (~¥70+), pay with Visa on the official site.

Some payments have hurdles—see the linked guides. If still unclear, you’ll need to sort it out yourself.

Some drawbacks

DeepSeek: slow; v/r variants don’t support multimodal (no “eyes” for images).
GPT for frontend UI—even with Figma MCP—is clearly weaker than Gemini for layout drawing, though otherwise fine.

AI CLI

Claude Code is king. Sadly, official Gemini/GPT don’t ship CC-compatible APIs; community workarounds exist but I’m not a fan. Codex/Gemini CLI are OK, just not CC-level.

Takeaways