Start with a sharp hobby nipper in the $15–25 band — a Tamiya sharp-pointed side cutter is the classic gateway — and learn two-stage cutting with it. That tool will build kits happily for years.
Upgrade to a single-blade nipper ($40–85, DSPIAE or God Hand) when clean cuts start mattering to you: the single-blade geometry shears gates so cleanly that nub cleanup nearly disappears. Skip hardware-store cutters entirely — the blade geometry crushes styrene and leaves stress marks.
Go deeper in our nippers & cutting tools guides.