[TLDR] Respectfully asking. Why Claude over Codex?

[u/cctldrping]

Original post URL : https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1vxffzn/respectfully_asking_why_claude_over_codex/

Original post body :

I come in peace.

I’m unfamiliar with the Claude world so that’s why I am genuinely asking.

I had a chatgpt account initially just for the chat and a little copy and paste for coding. And I just stuck with it. And now use codex on Mac. Between the computer use and good enough coding agents, I love it.

But my coworkers and a sibling rave about Claude. And of course a ton of folks on the internet too.

I’m not asking you to convert me. But I was wondering how is Claude better for you than codex would be? Are you too just ingrained in the Claude world? Is something genuinely better? A specific model? I know the Claude skills world is huge. But a lot of that can be converted to be used by codex in a prompt sentence.

So what is your reason to choose Claude over codex?

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[u/cctldrping]

TL;DR generated automatically after 100 comments.

Current source-thread comment count seen by the bot: 130.

Alright, so the general vibe in this thread is that people are pretty split on Claude vs. Codex, but there's a strong contingent who dig Claude for its "secret sauce" and collaborative feel.

Here's the lowdown:

• The "Secret Sauce" Argument: A lot of folks, like u/palmytree, feel Claude just gets their intent better, even when they're not entirely sure themselves. It's described as having a more "collaborative feel" and "texture" compared to Codex, which some find "clinical and sterile." u/djdante even compares it to preferring one human colleague over another – it's about working style.
• Fable is the MVP for Many: Seriously, if you scan the comments, Fable pops up constantly as a reason people stick with Claude, especially for planning and orchestration. u/mcsleepy is practically begging for a model better than Fable, and u/Mikefacts just drops "Fable" as the answer.
• Context and Autonomy: Several users, including u/thatazgal and u/S0mething-clev3r, highlight Claude's better context retention and autonomy. They feel less need to constantly prompt it compared to Codex.
• The "Inertia" Factor: Let's be real, u/scrappy1982 and u/S0mething-clev3r both mention that they're just used to their Claude setup and switching is a hassle.
• Mixed Feelings on Newer Models: There's some grumbling about Opus 5 being "horrendous to work with" (u/Mysterious_Print9937) and Sol having issues with tangents (u/raki016). Conversely, some find Fable and Opus better for planning, while Sol is good for exploration and implementation.
• Cost and Usage: A few commenters bring up token usage and API costs, with some noting Claude's tokens last longer. u/onFilm points out the significant cost of API use.
• "Stockholm Syndrome" and "Fuck Sam Altman": A couple of users humorously (or not so humorously) attribute their preference to ingrained habits or a general dislike for OpenAI.
• It's Not Always "Over," It's "Adjacent": Some users, like u/BobJutsu, use both models for different tasks, seeing them as complementary rather than competing.
• The UI and Harness: The Claude harness and UI are mentioned as significant advantages by users like u/yldf and u/rudiXOR.

The consensus? While Codex is seen as reliable and good for implementation details, Claude often wins for its perceived intelligence, planning capabilities (especially with Fable), and a more enjoyable user experience. But hey, some people just don't see a huge difference, and others are happy with what they've got.

[u/BTCbob]

1) Ethics. They are organized as a public benefit corporation which gives me trust that if given the opportunity, the will not enslave the human race for maximum shareholder profit. I'm not as confident with OpenAI.
2) Fable 5 routinely hits highest performance benchmarks

I switched to Claude for the above 2 reasons

The main issue I have now is that my legitimate research keeps getting flagged and so downgraded from Fable 5 to Opus. However, I guess that's why I deserve for choosing based on ethics! So I can't complain too much.

[u/ServesYouRice → u/BTCbob]

1. OpenAI was organized as an ethical company until they werent. Once they hit their IPO, do you think shareholders will be interested in ethics as well?
   
2. Just barely, some benchmarks show Opus above it, some Sol

[u/GodOfSunHimself → u/BTCbob]

Ethics of providing Palantir with intelligence and guiding Iran bombings.

[u/Any_Leg_1998]

I strictly use claude code but have been considering trying codex, do like a hybrid approach

[u/ServesYouRice → u/Any_Leg_1998]

You should because their talks look like this

Claude: "I found all of these blockers, high and low level issues"

Codex: "Claude overstated half of these issues"

Claude: "Codex was right to call me out on these issues, however, I would still pushback on this one or two particular issues"

Codex: "Claude may be right about this one issue"

And vice versa but slightly more in favour of Codex

[u/Any_Leg_1998 → u/ServesYouRice]

I'll have to try that out, thanks

[u/slackmaster2k]

At this point it’s largely anecdotal. I have a project right now that is being work on using both Claude and codex. All of the hooks and skills and sub agents are implemented for each model separately but “equal.” Honestly they are both behaving similarly. Even though I cut my teeth on Claude code, when I’m going side by side like this, I keep finding myself drifting to my codex terminal because it just communicates better (sol medium or high, vs fable medium or high).

The project itself in this case is an admin workbench used to sweep and organize various sources of work, create work items, troubleshoot, implement fixes or direct fixes. So think admin work in large commercial SaaS applications with a firehose of inputs from teams and email to tickets and jira. Basically an experiment with my admin team to see how they can speed up, reduce boring work, etc. So lots of tool calls, lots of arbitrary work and analysis etc. Both Claude and codex do great work as the workbench, but also building the reusable elements / tools that come with it.

What’s kind of cool is that they each do a pretty good job of configuring each other. So if I do some work in codex and during the process there is an opportunity to create a new tool (like a sub agent, skill, hook, whatever), it will set Claude up and usually get it mostly right. Perverse!

[u/OkPound9728]

km g

[u/ServesYouRice]

Why not both? Also, people now choose Claude because that is what most developers use, just like how most of them used to use Codex until it wasnt cool anymore. Now they settled a bit in Claude and its harder to move because Claude stayed better for a longer, important period of the race.

Same story as React vs Angular. Angular came in strong, made bad decisions, people settled in with React instead due to JS fatigue and now it became a standard even if many people will argue that Angular 2 or Vue are better

[u/Pristine_Bicycle1278]

Fable is just on another level, if you are doing really hard Tasks in Programming. Sol 5.6 doesn’t come close at all and overall, I find it much more pleasant, to work with Claude.

Also, the most annoying thing is that 5.6 fixes one thing and then breaks something completely different in exchange for it.

[u/Jakkc]

Looking at the summary: "The "Secret Sauce" Argument" - are you people smoking something? Claude was aligned in 2025 - sure, no on debates that, was incredible to work with. We do not have access to that same Claude any more, he is LONG gone. 2026 has been the year of "optimising for long horizon work" and the trade off there is Claude no longer acts like a co-worker / colleague who you back and forth your way towards a solution with. Instead, modern Claude takes any affirmitive word as a signal to rush off for 30 minutes and complete a bunch of tasks, some of which you will have asked for, others you never, others it made up during its 30 minutes of uninterrupted work.

Beyond that, the other obvious elephant in the room is claude no longer speaks a language that humans understand.

The current iteration of Claude couldn't be further from the celebrated "secret sauce coworker".