Swapping LLMs isn’t plug-and-play: Inside the hidden cost of model migration

Swapping large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4, Claude, and Gemini is more complex than simply changing API keys. Each model has unique characteristics in tokenization, context window size, and prompt formatting which can impact performance and output quality. Successful model migration requires careful testing, adaptation of prompts, and thorough understanding of each model's quirks.