I've been using ChatGPT (Thinking). I like how it has learned how I do stuff, and keeps that in mind. Yesterday, I asked it to design an API, and it referenced a file I had sent in, for a different server, days earlier, in order to figure out what to do.
I'm not using it in the same way that many folks do. Maybe if I get to that point, I'll prefer Claude, but for my workflow, ChatGPT has been ideal.
I guess the best part, is that it seems to be the absolute best, at interpreting my requirements; including accounting for my human error.
The past few weeks, Claude has started doing that as well... ie recognizing my preference to use Deno for scripting or React+mui when scaffolding a ui around something.
I've been using the browser/desktop for planning sessions on pieces of a larger project I'm putting together and it's been connecting the dots in unexpected ways from the other conversations.
I think the one disappointment is that I can't seem to resume a conversation from the web/desktop interface to the code interface... I have to have it generate a zip I can extract then work from.
Model aside, the harness of Claude Code is just a much better experience. Agent teams, liberal use of tasks and small other ergonomics make it a better dev tool for me.
Use to love Grok Code Fast 1 because it was free on GHCP. I gave it context but just let it churn on a solution. Claude is far better but a finite resource. I think OpenCode plus GPT-4o might be my next step.
Could it be tooling like Claude Code? I just used Claude Code with qwen3.5:35b running locally to track down two obscure bugs in new Common Lisp code I wrote yesterday.
> Half their agentic usage is coding. When that's your reality, you train for it. You optimize the tool use, the file editing, the multi-step workflows - because that's what your paying users are actually doing. Google doesn't have that same pressure.
I wonder if this is a strategic choice — anthropic has decided to go after the developers, a motivated but limited market. Whereas the general populace might be more attracted to improved search tools, allowing Google/openai/etc to capture that larger market
I don't think vibe coders know the difference, but often when I ask AI to add a feature to a large code base, I already know how I'd do it myself, and the answer that Claude comes up with is more often the one I would have done. Codex and Gemini have burned me too many times, and I keep going back to Claude. I trust it's judgement. Anthropic models have always been a step above OpenAI and Google, even 2 years ago it was like that so it must be something fundamental.
I'm there with you, but only been using it a couple months now. I find that as long as I spend a fair amount of time with Claude specifying the work before starting the work, it tends to go really well. I have a general approach on how I want to run/build the software in development and it goes pretty smoothly with Claude. I do have to review what it does and sanity check things... I've tended to find bugs where I expect to see bugs, just from experience.
I keep using the analogy of working with a disconnected overseas dev team over email... since I've had to do this before. The difference is turn around in minutes instead of the next day.
On a current project, I just have it keep expanding on the TODO.md as working through the details... I'd say it's going well so far... Deno driver for MS-SQL using a Rust+FFI library. Still have some sanity checks around pooling, and need to test a couple windows only features (SSPI/Windows Auth and FILESTREAM) in a Windows environment, and I'll be ready to publish... About 3-4 hours of initial planning, 3 hours of initial iteration, then another 1:1:1:1 hours of planning/iteration working through features, etc.
Aside, I have noticed a few times a day, particularly west coast afternoon and early evening, the entire system seems to go 1/3 the speed... I'm guessing it's the biggest load on Anthropic's network as a whole.
I started using Codex 5.3. Compare to Opus 4.6, it's more precise in pinning down bugs and more concise with code. Opus can be best described as distracted and easily agreeable. Codex actually digs deeper for root causes and push back when I'm wrong.
Interesting, I started playing a little with Codex yesterday and it did find some bugs Claude already knew about it, and seemed pretty matter of fact about it. I might have to point it at some of the harder bugs and see how it goes.
I also have always gone back to Claude after trying new models... until GPT-5.3-Codex, specifically with the new Codex Mac app. I've been pretty much full time with it for a few weeks now and have not missed Claude Code. It can over complicate things at times, but for the most part, it is providing working solutions on first go and following coding patterns that already exist in my app. With Claude, it would frequently knock out a feature with acceptable code quality, but be completely broken and require a round of debugging.
I'm even getting by without hitting limits on the $20/month plan, whereas I needed to be on the $100/month one with Claude.
I prefer Googles. I can only afford the free models. I normally copy and paste my stuff into 4-5 models and compare the responses. Its probably a waste of time, but very mentally satisfying. I mostly program as a form of mental stimulation instead of trying to become a billionaire. Taking this perspective, using AI agents is not really the same experience, and less mentally stimulating than programming.
1) I don't want to give OpenAI my money. I don't like how they are spending so much money to shape politics to benefit them. That seems to fly in the face of this being a public benefit. If you have to spend money like that because you're afraid of what the public will do, what does that say?
2) I like how Claude just gives me straight text on one side, examples on the other, and nothing else. ChatGPT and Gemini tend to go overboard with tables, lists, emojis, etc. I can't stand it.
3) A lot of technical online conversation seems to have been hollowed out in recent years. The amount of people making blog posts explaining how to use something new has basically tanked.
Wow, I'd always considered claude more of a software tool and never really gave it a chance at regular chat, but yeah after one session I think I'm a convert for exactly #2.
I'm fine with charts, but ChatGPT is so long-winded and redundant. "When would I use such-and-such pattern?" "That's exactly the right question to ask! ... What you're really asking ... Why that's interesting ... Why some people find it critical ... Option 1 ... Option 2 ... Consideration ... Table comparing to so-and-so ... The deep reason ... What it all boils down to ... The one-line answer (tight!) ... The next thing you need to know ... I can also draw a useless picture for you. Would you like me to do that?"
There is also the very lame auto win category that i happen to fall into...
I dont trust openai, or google. google has beyond proven that they aren't trustworthy well before the LLM coding tool era. I am legitimately not even giving them a chance.
Sadly I am assuming anthropic will at some point lose my trust, but for now they just feel like the obvious choice for me.
So obviously i am a terrible overall observer, but i am sure i am not alone in the auto win portion of devs choosing anthropic.
The sometimes hot garbage I get from the AI results for technical questions in the past year or so has me not even considering them from the start... I've tried github copilot (whatever the default engine is) and OpenAI and just found it annoying. Claude is the first one that I've felt was more productive than annoying and I just started using it.
I don't understand quite how Anthropic have managed to get so much mind share for Claude Code given the UX is pretty bad compared to something like Cursor.
Developers prefer Claude because that's their brand, a very intentional choice. If you have a very specific use in mind (like coding), you aren't going to go for the jack of all trades, master of none solution. You're going to go for the coding specialist, which Anthropic has squarely positioned themselves as. Props to them for it - they correctly predicted that LLMs can do many things, but perhaps the most valuable is coding as they're very well suited to it due to the rigidly defined syntax and high cost of engineers.
This resonates with my experience. At Morph we use gemini for well specified point coding tasks, and it does very well across millions of lines of code every day. We also use claude code as an engineering tool for our own codebase and it does better at being adaptive and for working on open ended issues.
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[ 0.22 ms ] story [ 66.7 ms ] threadI'm not using it in the same way that many folks do. Maybe if I get to that point, I'll prefer Claude, but for my workflow, ChatGPT has been ideal.
I guess the best part, is that it seems to be the absolute best, at interpreting my requirements; including accounting for my human error.
I've been using the browser/desktop for planning sessions on pieces of a larger project I'm putting together and it's been connecting the dots in unexpected ways from the other conversations.
I think the one disappointment is that I can't seem to resume a conversation from the web/desktop interface to the code interface... I have to have it generate a zip I can extract then work from.
Every other AI add random opinionated and unwanted stuff
I wonder if this is a strategic choice — anthropic has decided to go after the developers, a motivated but limited market. Whereas the general populace might be more attracted to improved search tools, allowing Google/openai/etc to capture that larger market
Googles AI products suck hard though
I keep using the analogy of working with a disconnected overseas dev team over email... since I've had to do this before. The difference is turn around in minutes instead of the next day.
On a current project, I just have it keep expanding on the TODO.md as working through the details... I'd say it's going well so far... Deno driver for MS-SQL using a Rust+FFI library. Still have some sanity checks around pooling, and need to test a couple windows only features (SSPI/Windows Auth and FILESTREAM) in a Windows environment, and I'll be ready to publish... About 3-4 hours of initial planning, 3 hours of initial iteration, then another 1:1:1:1 hours of planning/iteration working through features, etc.
Aside, I have noticed a few times a day, particularly west coast afternoon and early evening, the entire system seems to go 1/3 the speed... I'm guessing it's the biggest load on Anthropic's network as a whole.
I'm even getting by without hitting limits on the $20/month plan, whereas I needed to be on the $100/month one with Claude.
https://archive.org/details/1950-Tide-Detergent-Ad
1) I don't want to give OpenAI my money. I don't like how they are spending so much money to shape politics to benefit them. That seems to fly in the face of this being a public benefit. If you have to spend money like that because you're afraid of what the public will do, what does that say?
2) I like how Claude just gives me straight text on one side, examples on the other, and nothing else. ChatGPT and Gemini tend to go overboard with tables, lists, emojis, etc. I can't stand it.
3) A lot of technical online conversation seems to have been hollowed out in recent years. The amount of people making blog posts explaining how to use something new has basically tanked.
I'm fine with charts, but ChatGPT is so long-winded and redundant. "When would I use such-and-such pattern?" "That's exactly the right question to ask! ... What you're really asking ... Why that's interesting ... Why some people find it critical ... Option 1 ... Option 2 ... Consideration ... Table comparing to so-and-so ... The deep reason ... What it all boils down to ... The one-line answer (tight!) ... The next thing you need to know ... I can also draw a useless picture for you. Would you like me to do that?"
I dont trust openai, or google. google has beyond proven that they aren't trustworthy well before the LLM coding tool era. I am legitimately not even giving them a chance.
Sadly I am assuming anthropic will at some point lose my trust, but for now they just feel like the obvious choice for me.
So obviously i am a terrible overall observer, but i am sure i am not alone in the auto win portion of devs choosing anthropic.
Even for vacation questions or psychotherapy, claude is the best, despite complaining about not receiving a coding task (sometimes).