Which model should I pick?
Claude for long-form, Gemini Flash for speed, GPT for all-round, Nano Banana for images. Plus the one honest caveat about image models on OpenRouter.
Every model dropdown in ScoutRival is curated, and a ★ marks our pick for that job. If you don't want to think about it, take the star and move on — this page is for when you do want to think about it.
Nothing is pre-selected, so you always make the call yourself.
The short answer
| What you want | Pick |
|---|---|
| The best long-form articles | Claude Opus (Anthropic), or a strong GPT |
| Speed and low cost | Gemini Flash (Google) |
| One model that does everything well | GPT (OpenAI) |
| Images | Google's Nano Banana models, or OpenAI's GPT Image |
| To not manage four accounts | OpenRouter — one key, one balance, all of the above |
For long-form articles (the Blog row)
This is where model choice actually shows. A 2,000-word article has to hold structure, keep a voice consistent across a dozen sections, and not pad. Cheap models pad.
- Claude Opus (Anthropic) — our pick, and the reason most people connect Anthropic at all. It's the strongest of the four at sustained, nuanced writing that doesn't read like AI. It's also the most expensive per article, which matters less than you'd think when you publish twice a week.
- A strong GPT (OpenAI) — very close, and better if you want one key for text and images.
- Claude Sonnet — the balanced middle. Noticeably cheaper than Opus, and for most service businesses the difference in the finished article is small.
- Gemini Pro — capable, and the cheapest route to genuinely good long-form.
Spend your money here rather than on the Text row. An article is a permanent asset; a LinkedIn post is not.
For social posts (the Text row)
Compose messages are short, frequent, and heavily constrained by your brand voice and platform rules before the model ever sees them. The model matters less here — most of the quality comes from your voice fingerprint and your services, not from what's writing.
- Gemini Flash — our pick for this row. Near-Pro quality at Flash speed and Flash prices, and you'll be running it dozens of times a week.
- GPT Mini or Nano — the same logic on OpenAI. Fast, cheap, entirely adequate for a 200-word post.
- Claude Haiku — Anthropic's fast, cheap tier.
A fast, cheap model on Text. A heavyweight on Blog. That's what the two separate rows exist for, and it's what most people land on after a month. Routing →
For images (the Image row)
Two providers do this well, and they're genuinely different.
- Google's Nano Banana models — our pick, and the most reliable image path in ScoutRival. Nano Banana Pro for fidelity and text rendered inside the image (the hard part, and it's the best of the four at it). Nano Banana 2 when you want fast and cheap.
- OpenAI's GPT Image models — strong on layout and on editing an existing image. Note that OpenAI requires a verified organisation before image generation works on your account, which is a hoop Google doesn't make you jump through.
- Anthropic — cannot generate images. It won't appear in the Image row at all.
Text-in-image is the thing to test first. It's what most social graphics need, and it's where models differ most.
The OpenRouter image caveat
OpenRouter's image list is long, and we'd rather tell you this than let you find out mid-deadline.
Image generation through OpenRouter is reliable on Google's Nano Banana models. Several of the other image models in that dropdown — the dedicated image vendors — are not fully wired up yet and may simply fail to return a picture. We list them because they're coming; today, if you're rendering via OpenRouter, pick a Google image model. If you specifically want another vendor's image model, connect that provider directly instead.
Text on OpenRouter has no such caveat — every model in the text list is checked against OpenRouter's live catalogue and works first try.
Using a model that isn't listed
The dropdowns are curated, not exhaustive. Type or paste any model ID your provider supports into the search box and an inline “Use…” row appears — pick it and it's saved as a custom model, marked with a CUSTOM badge.
Two things to know:
- Use the ID your provider expects, exactly. Each provider has its own naming — the ID that works on OpenRouter is not the ID that works when you call OpenAI directly.
- We don't validate it. A model ID that doesn't exist won't stop you saving; it'll just fail at generation time, and — because the fallback is silent — you'll get a normal-looking result from our included AI instead. How to spot that →
New models land constantly. If yours isn't in the list yet, the custom row is how you use it today.