Best AI Models for Coding
The strongest models for code generation, refactoring and agentic coding, every one callable through a single OpenAI-compatible API on thalam, pay per token, no subscription.
- 1ALQwen3 Coder 30B A3B$0.070 / 1M · 128K context · Fast
IDE-tier coding model. Cheap, fast, fits inline-completion workloads.
- 2ALQwen3 Coder 480B A35B$0.380 / 1M · 256K context · Fast
Qwen3 Coder 480B, Alibaba's flagship coding MoE. 256K context, 100+ languages, fill-in-the-middle.
- 3ALQwen3 Coder Next$0.200 / 1M · 128K context · Fast
Alibaba coding model. Available via THALAM.
- 4AIGPT-5.6 Sol$5.00 / 1M · 1M context · Medium
The top tier of OpenAI's GPT-5.6 generation. Frontier reasoning, coding, and agentic work with a 1M-token context and image input.
- 5AIGPT-5.6 Terra$2.00 / 1M · 1M context · Medium
The balanced tier of OpenAI's GPT-5.6 generation. Same 1M-token context and image input, tuned for everyday production work.
- 6KMKimi K3$3.00 / 1M · 1M context · Medium
Moonshot's new flagship generation. A 1M-token context and the strongest measured reasoning in our catalog.
One OpenAI-compatible endpoint for every model above. Pay per token, no subscription, credits never expire.
FAQ
What is the best AI model for coding?
For most teams a frontier general model (GPT, Claude, Gemini or DeepSeek) leads on coding quality, while dedicated coder models like Qwen3 Coder give strong results at a much lower price. All are available on thalam through one API key, so you can A/B them without changing code.
What is the cheapest good coding model?
Open-weight coder models such as Qwen3 Coder are a fraction of frontier prices while handling most day-to-day coding. On thalam you pay per token with no subscription, so a cheap default plus a frontier fallback is a config change, not a contract.