# What's the cheapest/best AI to use for AI Spam?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/whats-the-cheapest-best-ai-to-use-for-ai-spam/357655
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** ai, spam
**Created:** [March 17, 2025, 9:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/whats-the-cheapest-best-ai-to-use-for-ai-spam/357655 "2025-03-17T21:32:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@trusktr](https://meta.discourse.org/u/trusktr)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2025, 9:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/whats-the-cheapest-best-ai-to-use-for-ai-spam/357655/1 "2025-03-17T21:32:00Z")
I’m trying to save some money. 🙂
Any recommendation on which AI will be cheapest, yet do a good enough job with Spam handling?
I have little experience comparing AIs, and this will be my first time using them for Discourse; hoping someone may have more experience to chime in with.
Also is “Support” the best category for a question like this?
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### Author:  [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2025, 9:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/whats-the-cheapest-best-ai-to-use-for-ai-spam/357655/2 "2025-03-17T21:35:17Z")
Discourse already has an AI plugin and you can set up to detect spam.
> [@Discourse AI - Spam detection](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-ai-spam-detection/343541):
>
> bookmark This guide explains how to configure and use Discourse AI’s spam detection feature, including the setup process, scanning criteria, classification logic, customizations, and contrasts with AI triage. person_raising_hand Required user level: Administrator megaphone This is now default turned on for [Starter and Pro customers](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-ai-spam-detection-replaces-akismet-plugin/354602), as well as our legacy Basic, Open Source, Creator, and Business customers. Discourse AI provides an efficient spam detection feature that identifies and…
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### Author:  [@trusktr](https://meta.discourse.org/u/trusktr)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/whats-the-cheapest-best-ai-to-use-for-ai-spam/357655/3 "2025-03-17T21:41:17Z")
@ondrej Oh yeah I know, I’m wondering about the LLMs. I’ve installed the plugin already.
I’m wondering which one to pick to save money but so that Spam handling will work well enough. Maybe the absolute cheapest one may not work well enough for example? I’m just getting started.
EDIT: Ah, it mentioned there:
> Most low-cost LLMs work effectively, such as:
>
> - GPT-4o-mini
> - Claude 3.5 Haiku
> - Gemini 2.0 Flash
Ok then, I’ll try one of those!
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### Author:  [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2025, 11:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/whats-the-cheapest-best-ai-to-use-for-ai-spam/357655/4 "2025-03-17T23:23:30Z")
I use OpenRouter’s Gemini for my spam detector, but it doesn’t seem to work for AI chats. It’s free.
> [@Configuring OpenRouter language models](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-openrouter-language-models/341526):
>
> bookmark This guide explains how to configure API keys for OpenRouter to enable Discourse AI features that require 3rd party LLM keys. person_raising_hand Required user level: Administrator In this guide, we’ll configure OpenRouter - a service that provides access to multiple large language models through a unified API. Note: You will require a plan and configured API key from OpenRouter Obtain API keys Visit [OpenRouter](https://openrouter.ai/) Sign up for an account Navigate to your dashboard to find your …
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2025, 2:28am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/whats-the-cheapest-best-ai-to-use-for-ai-spam/357655/5 "2025-03-18T02:28:33Z")
When it comes to great bang for buck Gemini 2.0 flash is right up there. It both has a free tier, and for pay tier which comes in (today) at 10 cents for 1 million input tokens. 4o-mini can do the job but is a bit more expensive.
Agree here with @NateDhaliwal that openrouter is a good place to hunt for great deals.
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### Author:  [@thoka](https://meta.discourse.org/u/thoka)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2025, 7:17am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/whats-the-cheapest-best-ai-to-use-for-ai-spam/357655/6 "2025-03-18T07:17:54Z")
I would like to extend this question with “… where all data remains in Europe.”
As far as I understand, OpenRouter does not support the regional selection of providers.
Is anyone aware of a similar European service?
> [@trusktr](#):
>
> Also is “Support” the best category for a question like this?
I would consider #Wiki a good place to keep this updated.
However, I cannot gauge whether an initial question will receive sufficient attention there…
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/whats-the-cheapest-best-ai-to-use-for-ai-spam/357655/7 "2025-03-18T20:20:18Z")
> [@thoka](#):
>
> where all data remains in Europe.
Try Mistral Small 3.1 via their official API?
Should cost you less than an euro per month.