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Claude comes in a few versions. Think of them like hiring: a quick junior, a solid all-rounder, and a senior expert. You don’t need to memorize anything — there’s a simple rule at the bottom.

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The lineup, in plain terms

  • The everyday one (Sonnet) — smart, fast, and the right choice for almost everything. This is your default.
  • The expert (Opus) — the deepest thinker. Slower and pricier, but worth it for hard, important, or complicated work.
  • The quick junior (Haiku) — fast and cheap. Perfect for simple, repetitive jobs done in bulk.
  • The newest (Fable) — the latest top-tier model when you want the most capable Claude available.

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The simple rule

Use the everyday one by default. Switch to the expert when something is hard or really matters. Use the quick junior for simple, repeated tasks.
That’s genuinely all you need.

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Where this saves you money

It matters most for scheduled agents (the ones that run on a timer). An agent running every hour on the expert model gets expensive fast — and usually it doesn’t need to. For routine jobs like a daily summary, the quick junior does the job for a fraction of the cost. A good habit:
  • Runs often + simple → quick junior
  • Runs daily + normal → everyday one
  • Runs occasionally + complex → expert

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You can change your mind anytime

Because every run is saved to your Orbit Vault, you can look at what an agent produced and decide it needs a smarter (or cheaper) model next time. No commitment — just dial it up or down.

Next: letting Claude do things

Why Claude asks permission — and when to let it run free.