Claude Haiku 4 for cheapest vision llms
Claude Haiku 4 is the #3 pick on LLMDex's cheapest vision llms ranking out of 5 models we track for this use case. Below, the specific reasons it slots where it does, and when you should reach for an alternative.
Updated
At a glance
- Rank
- #3 of 5
- Context
- 200K tokens
- Output / 1M
- Pricing not published
- Released
- Oct 2025
Why Claude Haiku 4 fits this task
Three things about Claude Haiku 4 that map directly onto what this task rewards: Fast and cheap for an Anthropic model; Inherits Claude's sensible defaults; Vision support included. Beyond the task-specific fit, Claude Haiku 4 also brings fast and cheap for an anthropic model and inherits claude's sensible defaults, both of which compound when the workload broadens.
The criteria this task rewards
LLMDex ranks cheapest vision llms on 5 criteria , these are the axes the ranking uses, in priority order:
- Cost per million input tokens with image attached
- Image-token billing structure
- Quality floor on chart and screenshot tasks
- Throughput
- API ease
How Claude Haiku 4 scores on each axis
Where Claude Haiku 4 costs you: quality gap visible on creative tasks. For most teams this is acceptable on this workload, the value of the strengths above outweighs the cost. For cost-bound workloads or teams with strict latency budgets, run an eval against the next two ranked models on real data before committing.
Strengths that pay off here
- Fast and cheap for an Anthropic model
- Inherits Claude's sensible defaults
- Vision support included
Tracked weaknesses
- Quality gap visible on creative tasks
- Less reliable on hard tool-use chains
When to pick something else
If you can pay slightly more or accept slightly different tradeoffs, Gemini 3 Flash from Google ranks one position higher and tends to win on the hardest cases. Google's high-speed, low-cost mid-tier with the same massive context window, popular for high-volume RAG.
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Other models for cheapest vision llms
- GPT-5 nano for cheapest vision llms
OpenAI's smallest GPT-5 variant, built for ultra-low-cost classification, routing, and high-volume inference.
Read guide - Gemini 3 Flash for cheapest vision llms
Google's high-speed, low-cost mid-tier with the same massive context window, popular for high-volume RAG.
Read guide - GPT-5 mini for cheapest vision llms
GPT-5's mid-tier sibling, most of the quality at a fraction of the price, ideal for high-volume production workloads.
Read guide - Qwen2-VL-72B for cheapest vision llms
Top open-weight vision-language model, strong on document understanding and chart analysis.
Read guide
Claude Haiku 4 for other use cases
Direct comparisons
Frequently asked
Is Claude Haiku 4 good for cheapest vision llms?
Claude Haiku 4 is ranked #3 on LLMDex's cheapest vision llms list. Anthropic's smallest 4-tier model, fast and cheap with the family's signature tone.How much does Claude Haiku 4 cost for cheapest vision llms?
Anthropic has not published per-token pricing for Claude Haiku 4 at the time of writing.What's a cheaper alternative to Claude Haiku 4 for cheapest vision llms?
The next ranked model on this task is GPT-5 mini. Compare both before committing.When should I NOT use Claude Haiku 4 for cheapest vision llms?
Tracked weakness: Quality gap visible on creative tasks. If that constraint is binding for your workload, the next-ranked model on this task is the safer pick.
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