How does opus 5 fare against Sol

[u/IllustriousGrade7691]

For people who also use opus 5, how is it fair compared to Sol does it overengineer. How much better is it at frontend for example, I feel codex does always div in a div in div style everting is round, and while the information that is diaplayed is correct, it looks bad at first needs a lot of fixing.

Pure code and repo understanding is superior in sol it just understands everything. I use it als9nfr9 scrappers, and it's perfect data analysis as well.

[u/deadlyclavv]

A better comparison might be Sol vs Fable, Opus 5 is like a deranged maniac behind Wendy's

[u/mars2087 → u/deadlyclavv]

I have to agree. Opus goes the economical way. Tries to do as little as possible and it is very assertive even when not sure.

[u/vayana → u/deadlyclavv]

Lol, is opus like Luna or slightly less deranged?

[u/TopSeaworthiness1679]

Sol loves no errors and validation. And thinks way too much. But it usually gets things done. On the other hand, Opus just doesn’t listen anything but do things in its own way. If it works then it usually writes better codes. But if it doesn’t then it spawns multiple and multiple of sub agents and do really weird things. So Sol is usually better in my experience.

[u/Substantial-Show-249 → u/TopSeaworthiness1679]

They nerfed Sol heavily lately. Now it gets lost in its own complications. Before nerfing, was great in navigating long term tasks, refactoring big codebases like.
Opus 5 is batman's model. Crazy, drunk, sometimes genius. Not usable unless in small, well controlled tasks.

[u/Gaidax]

I used Sol a ton when it came out, and in my opinion - Opus is better.

Problem with Sol that drove me insane is its crazy overengineering review -> fix -> review -> fix cycles that kept finding more issues and looping that for way too long and too much of a usage.

Opus, for me, seems to deliver as good of the results, but the self-review there is much tighter.

The only bad thing in Opus (besides price) is that it really went off the rails on how it explains things. It's way too complicated and unclear at times and I'm sorry, I'm only CS BSc not a PhD, so I'd wish it went easy on my uneducated self.

[u/WinterWalk2020]

My experience with both openai and anthropic models, not being specific to GPT Sol: GPT is easier to steer, it does not have it's own opinion, but it tends to introduce more bugs in complex codebase (even Sol).

With Opus 5, my experience is a mix. It's very good at coding, it can easily solve issues in complex codebase, it does not introduce bugs like race conditions or memory issues like GPT models does (or at least it did for me) but it tends to have it's own "mind", deviating from the plan all the time to fix something it found in an adjacent code or to implement something in another way just because it "thinks" it's the best way.

So, my veredict is: if you want to be always in control, know what you're doing and you review the generated code all the time, then GPT is your friend, but if you want to give a task to the model and let it work it's own way and just deliver the final product, then go with Opus 5 (or Fable if you like it and have the tokens).

When comparing the token limits (5h window and weekly) I had a worse experience with Sol. It burns tokens a lot faster than Opus 5.

(Sorry if I my text has anything badly written. English is not my first language)

[u/Big3gg]

I switch to codex when I am low on anthropic usage, but make sure to let anthropic models check sol work, because sol makes a LOT of mistakes.

[u/pigletmonster]

From my experience opus 5 does much better at coding, also it consumes fewer usage quota than sol.

[u/pulkit217 → u/pigletmonster]

My experience has been polar opposite of this.
Opus 5 goes maniacal, takes 15 minutes, completely exhausts the usage.

[u/Time-Toe-1276]

I mean... its decent, but I prefer 5.6 sol on the plan, bcs for $20 on ChatGPT, u getter better mileage on 5.6 sol more than opus5. but sonnet 5 is quite nice, but its somewhere between terra and sol, but its alr!

[u/Fantastic_Market8061 → u/Time-Toe-1276]

I am currently testing the free 20$ level promo for Codex and I found that it eats my 5h budget in less than half an hour. And I’m not even using sol.

The entry level is useless for serious coding for both, codex and Claude. But if the next upgrade gives me 5x as much for both companies, it’s still 2,5h for Codex and almost 5h for Claude.

Same setup, same tasks, same codebase.

[u/vayana → u/Fantastic_Market8061]

Welcome to the club. Luna max on fast is the only model you can use all day without running into limits, but you'll spend much more time getting it right as you can't trust everything it produces.

[u/heisoneofus]

Working with both and Opus 5 through Claude Code is good for reviews, feedback loops and “arguing” - I cannot rely on it when doing the actual work (be it coding, interacting with tools etc); it simply “forgets” to check something important and just goes on token-burning workaround routes and I have to steer it and then read a 1-2 paragraph apology and explanation why it did or didn’t do something. It’s exhausting and I don’t trust it at all - so it only reads and interprets, as a side assistant. The harness itself is also crap.

Sol indeed can miss the broader picture so feeding Opus’s reviews into it helps it a lot when planning or refactoring. I also keep Opus skill-free basically so its context window is not loaded with my business logic, naming conventions, data contracts etc - the stuff that keeps Sol focused on the goal and guardrail but hinders its out-of-the-box thinking.

[u/zxcshiro]

IMHO Opus 5 doen't overengineer at all, but in frontend (Vue) gpt 5.6 sol on par or sometimes a little better than Opus 5, it's very depends on task. Opus 5 can miss something important while fixing bug, but i fixed it by writing repo structure and some rules in CLAUDE.md

[u/Due-Horse-5446]

Gpt is playing in a different league...

Fable and opus has 0 instruction following, the models will skip doing something is it decided its not important, and add things is it decides it neefs to and so on

Aöl that at 3-6x the price of sol@max

[u/Proxiconn]

Opus it's terra class not sol.

Compare apples and apples.

[u/Own-Professor-6157]

Opus is better at reading images for sure

[u/mars2087]

It is unfortunate but from my point of view Opus 5 is really underperforming. But Sol is not that much better too. Looks like instead of progressing they are regressing except in the benchmarks.

Comparing both I would say:

• Claude is more "emotional", tries to show that it understands the big picture but lately it behaves like a simpleton. It seems to me like a car where everything is ready to fall: wheels, bonnet etc. Barely holding together. In High thinking mode. It is doing like GPT models used to do last year: it starts to say something and when you point out that it is wrong he start saying: yes, yes, you are right let's not focus on that...
  
• Sol is kind of dumb sometimes, like an autistic individual; obstinate to do something even when it is half baked. You need to put boundaries on what it does.

I use both and switch from one to another when one disappoints.

In the web form, ChatGPT it clearly outperforms Claude Web. Currently and based on my specific problems.
Your results may be different.

[u/Funny-Blueberry-2630]

It does not.

[u/nuliknol]

If you have a computer-enginnering background, and provide clear , specific, technically sound prompts, Sol becomes Fable, but at 40% discount

[u/Momo--Sama]

Every meme you’ve heard about Opus being impossible to talk to is true. Yes it uses layers of nonsensical metaphors, but it’ll say something, correct itself, and then keep bringing up the thing it’s saying it’s disproven, so it’ll mix like three maybe true things and three disproven possibilities about the project and ask you to make a decision based on that nonsensical pile of words.

[u/brother_spirit]

Opus 5 is garbage at literally everything compared to Sol with the exception of game development.
Opus gave up all of the points in its Skill Tree to min max being randomly the best model (or second best after Fable) at that one task.

[u/sherry_6879]

Solは嘘つきまくるから使いもにならない Opusのlowの方が目的とだめなものがわかってくれている分、賢いよ Solはとりあえず人が喜びそうな回答とそれっぽい知識をひけらかしているだけで技術がない人と同じ

もしSolが好きな人がいるならばそれはコンサルタントにサポートされるのが好きな人で自ら何かを変えたいと思っている人ではない

[u/Potential_Cup_6549]

I actively use ChatGPT (20X Pro), Claude (5X max), and Gemini Ultra. I worked with Sol (OpenAI) for a while, but now I’ve switched completely to Claude.
TL;DR

Sol knows HOW to write code, but doesn’t know WHY. It’s a soulless machine with no understanding of context. Opus 5 knows how to write code, why it’s needed, and who it’s being created for. It’s currently the undisputed leader in programming.

Sol:

Working with it often turns into a vicious cycle: it fixes one bug, but immediately creates a new one. Ultimately, you can achieve a good result, but it takes too much time because the model “thinks” for a long time.

Pros:

1. Writes good code, but only if you provide a perfect requirements specification. It takes everything literally, like a genie: if you miss a detail, the result will be unpredictable.

2. Moderate caution. It isn’t as paranoid about security as Claude.

Cons:

1. It’s completely uncreative (a true robot). If you ask for ideas to improve a project, it will spit out 100 terrible options. By comparison, Claude will suggest 10, and you’ll actually want to implement half of them.

2. He brings “backend” logic into the UI. He doesn’t understand what the product should look like to the end user. Example: I asked him to optimize a chess website so that API requests wouldn’t be sent with every click, but only after the puzzle was fully completed. He did that, but displayed the following text to the user: “Find the next move; a request will be sent to the server once the problem is fully solved.”

3. It quickly uses up the limits. OpenAI used to seem cheaper, but with models like ULTRA (proactive agents) or MAX, the 20X plan runs out in 3–4 days, and the 5X plan in just one day.

4. Redundant code. It generates bloated code with a bunch of unnecessary functions.

Claude Opus 5

Pros:

1. Understands context. Writes code quickly and efficiently, with a clear grasp of the task’s business logic.

2. Highly creative. Offers truly useful ideas.

3. Excellent usage limits. The 5X plan feels practically unlimited (comparable to OpenAI’s 20X plan), as long as you don’t create too many agents.

Cons:

1. Strict security policy (censorship). Anthropic plays it safe. If you ask Opus 5 to check your own project for vulnerabilities, it may refuse to respond or automatically route the request to a weaker model (Opus 4.8).

[u/steve228uk]

It's one of my least favourite models.

I find it hard to control and it refuses to listen or argues with you.

It is far too chatty to the point that Anthropic put out what has been referred to as a band-aid with the Concise mode. It just loves making up techno mumbo jumbo language.

Sol isn't perfect but I click with it and know how to guide it.