Most professionals use Claude every day — but almost everyone defaults to the most powerful model for every task, even when a lighter one would do the job just as well.
This mini-course gives you a clear, practical framework for choosing the right Claude model every time, so you stop burning your daily usage limit on tasks that do not need it.
What you will learn: the difference between Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus — the three models available on Claude Pro and Team plans — and a simple rule to pick the right one in under 10 seconds. Note: Claude has additional models for developers and enterprise use cases, but these three cover the vast majority of professional work.
Claude has three main models available on Pro and Team plans. Each is more capable — and heavier on your daily usage limit — than the last. The numbers below are relative weights, not per-message charges.
Note: API pricing for developers is different from subscription plan limits. Do not confuse the two — they work differently.
Every conversation has a token budget. It comes from three sources — and all of them are within your control to manage.
The 10-second rule: before every conversation ask — does this need deep reasoning or fast execution? Fast execution goes to Haiku or Sonnet. Deep reasoning goes to Sonnet or Opus. When in doubt: Sonnet is almost always the right default.