16 guides
Models
Plain-English guides on models for non-technical founders building with AI tools.
founder · 5 min read
NewReplit Says It Dropped Anthropic. Here's What Changes for Your Builds
Replit's CEO says the company no longer works with Anthropic and prefers OpenAI models. What is confirmed, what isn't, and what to check in your account.
founder · 6 min read
NewMistral Large 4: a cheap second-place coding model, with a catch
Mistral's Large 4 preview ranks second in a blind coding test at a fraction of Claude Opus 5's price. What it means for your tools, and what to wait for.
founder · 7 min read
Three Frontier Models in 48 Hours, All Cheaper. Here's the Part That Reaches Your Bill.
Grok 4.7, Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-6 Sol/Luna landed in two days at lower prices. The price war is one tier below the flagships — the tier your tools run on.
founder · 8 min read
Two AI Coding Plans Shrank This Month. Neither Price Moved.
Claude Code lost 17% of its weekly limits on Sep 14. Codex loses GPT-5.5 on Oct 14. Same invoice, less product — and one clear pattern behind both.
founder · 8 min read
GPT-6 Astra is here: why the biggest model launch of the year probably isn't for you
OpenAI shipped GPT-6 Astra on September 3. It's a computer-use model, not a coding upgrade, and it trails Claude Fable 5.1 on OpenAI's own index.
founder · 9 min read
The Vibe Coding Pricing Calendar: Every Dated Change We Can Verify
Every dated change to what AI coding tools cost you, with the vendor page we read it on. Now tracking Claude Code and Codex too. Updated Sep 18.
founder · 7 min read
Grok 4.6: a real jump for long agent runs, and a pricing cliff at 200K
SpaceXAI's Grok 4.6 is live in Cursor and Grok Build. The headline is $2/$6 per million tokens. The number that actually hits your bill is different.
founder · 7 min read
Google Halved Its Coding Model Price. DeepSeek Raised Its 11x. Same Week.
In three days, the model layer under your vibe coding tool moved hard in both directions. Here's what actually reaches your bill, and what to do.
founder · 6 min read
Meta's Muse Glimmer: a free coding model that runs on your own laptop
Meta open-sourced a 30B coding model that runs offline on a single consumer GPU. Here's the honest read for non-technical founders.
founder · 8 min read
Your AI coding tool now picks the model for you, and here's why that matters
Cursor Router and the rise of automatic model routing means you stop choosing models and start choosing a cost posture. What founders and PMs need to know.
founder · 7 min read
GPT-5.6 Sol is live: what the new default model means for vibe coders
OpenAI shipped GPT-5.6 (Sol, Terra, Luna) on July 9: cheaper than Fable 5, a coding record, and a cheating problem. The practical read for founders.
founder · 7 min read
Grok 4.5 is here: an 'Opus-class' coding model, half the price
xAI shipped Grok 4.5 on July 8: trained on real Cursor sessions, priced 60% below Opus 4.8, and live in Cursor on every plan. The founder's read.
founder · 6 min read
GLM-5.2: the cheap open coding model that just undercut GPT-5.5
Z.ai's GLM-5.2 matches frontier coding models at roughly a sixth of the price, with open weights. Here's the practical read for non-technical builders.
founder · 7 min read
What Anthropic Actually Shipped at Code with Claude 2026
The May 6 SF developer event delivered Claude Managed Agents, Remote Agents for Claude Code, and the clearest signal yet on where Anthropic is heading.
founder · 5 min read
Code with Claude on May 6: What Non-Technical Founders Should Watch For
Anthropic's San Francisco developer event on May 6 is likely to ship a new Sonnet model. Here's what that probably means for the tools you actually use.
founder · 8 min read
GPT-5.5 is here: what founders and PMs actually need to know
OpenAI's April 23 GPT-5.5 launch changes the model stack behind every major vibe coding tool. Here's the practical read for non-technical builders.