See also: Breaking Down Tasks for AI for practical advice on model selection and structuring your tasks.
Cellm supports hosted models from Anthropic, AWS, Azure, DeepSeek, Google, OpenAI, Mistral, and any OpenAI-compatible cloud provider. These models are more powerful than anything you can run on your own computer.
AI providers use data from free tiers and even some consumer plans to improve their models. Review each provider’s data usage policies before sending sensitive information. For data privacy guarantees, consider local models or Cellm’s subscription plans.
Model sizes
We split hosted models into three tiers based on their size and capabilities, balancing speed, intelligence, and problem-solving skills:
| Small Model | Medium Model | Large Model | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | |||
| Intelligence | |||
| World Knowledge | |||
| Recommended model | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
Provider setup
To use hosted models, you need an API key from your chosen provider. Below are setup instructions for the most popular providers. Mistral offers a generous free tier with access to powerful models.
Mistral’s free tier is excellent for getting started - you get significant usage before incurring costs.
OpenAI
OpenAI provides access to GPT models, including GPT-4o and GPT-4o-mini.
OpenAI no longer provides free trial credits, so you’ll need to add funds before making API calls.
Google Gemini
Google Gemini offers powerful AI models with a generous free tier.
Google Gemini offers 1,500 requests per day on the free tier, making it excellent for testing and development.
Anthropic (Claude)
Anthropic provides Claude models, known for their strong reasoning capabilities.
DeepSeek
DeepSeek provides cost-effective AI models with OpenAI-compatible API.
Other OpenAI-compatible providers
You can use any provider compatible with OpenAI’s API format, including OpenRouter or LiteLLM.
Local models running on localhost are free to use. However, a Cellm subscription is required to access online APIs like openrouter.com or cerebras.ai. See Cellm’s subscription plans for details.
Best practices
- Store API keys securely: Use a password manager or environment variables
- Monitor usage: Check your provider dashboard regularly to track costs
- Start small: Begin with smaller, cheaper models and scale up as needed
- Test thoroughly: Verify API setup with a few test prompts before processing large datasets