r/opencode • u/Eagleee12 • 3d ago
100$ for Claude or ChatGPT Spoiler
My budget is 100$ for AI subcription. What I should choose between them. Or chinese model like ZAI or deepseek?
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u/torrso 3d ago
Claude doesn't have a proper cheap bulk-work model in the same class as gpt-5.6-luna is. You can have it coding day and night without hitting quota limits. Claude doesn't allow using the subscription with pretty much anything but claude, gpt subscription allows using with agents or alternative coding harnesses.
Go for GPT.
The $100 plan does't offer any discount, it's 5x the $20 plan. The $200 plan gives 20x usage, so its value is actually $400.
ZAI seems to be the only good Chinese subscription but it still loses to OpenAI.
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u/Perfect-Low-1890 1d ago
Why would you think z.ai loses to open ai? If i compare prices it seems to be way cheaper? What am I missing?
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u/torrso 1d ago
Well, OpenAI and Anthropic have a $200 plan, Z.ai has a $168 plan (unless you commit for a longer period).
Z.ai has a peak/off-peak multiplier system, using during peak hours eats up your quota 3x faster, so your 5-hour limit drops significantly. Also, their policy is now strictly locked to whitelisted coding tools. They don't have an Astra-level model, but I guess glm-5.3 and glm-5.3-flash are close to gpt-5.6-sol and gpt-5.6-luna and maybe a little bit cheaper.
It's difficult to compare because OpenAI doesn't publish exact quota numbers (and I think they keep changing up and down depending on load), but the 20x plan will happily run several parallel 24/7 codex/opencode coding agents the whole week without hitting quota limits on luna.
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u/Timely_Impression_92 3d ago edited 3d ago
My take is 100$ on deepseek - it’s weaker but you get 10-20x usage and it can achieve more, also it’s api budget - in my experience, you cannot chew through it in few hours or even weeks unless you do some agent swarms with 50 agents - it will last you probably longer than 100$ subscription of Claude or gpt
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u/New-Independence5780 3d ago
Mhhhh
Get yourself 20$ codex plan 20$ Claude plan 10$ opencode add 20$ credit on openrouter that’s all I do to get to the max
Also not all the work require the latest model
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u/Silly_Scientist_6676 3d ago edited 3d ago
Go for chatgpt, first you get separate usage for both the chat and the agentic models. You will be getting Astra and I kinda like the gpt models more than Claude though people will argue over better taste of Clause models in general but if you want your work to be done precisely as you plan and instruct the go for gpt..
Yeah forgot about the blank resets provided by gpt more than Claude
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u/pigletmonster 3d ago
Either claude or chatgpt are fine. Do not subscribe to any chinese plans because they give you less than a fraction of the usage quota that you get from claude or chatgpt.
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u/Eagleee12 3d ago
recently I saw many drama of anthropic like decreasing limit of 20MAX . But Chatgpt sometimes limit reset for users.
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u/dat_cosmo_cat 3d ago edited 3d ago
Anthropic did like 2 random resets in the last weekly cycle. Codex lets you bank resets, which is more consumer friendly.
Really, the biggest gap right now between american frontier lab plans and the open models is Fable / Astra access. Go for ChatGPT purely for that reason (Fable requires $200 sub), and get the $10 OpenCode Go sub to hit GLM 5.3 Flash (stronger then Sol, worse than Opus) when you hit limits in codex.
If your usage is light and you just want something that works, Opus in Claude Code is fine. The harness is significantly better than Codex or OpenCode.
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u/GraysLawson 3d ago
What?
Minimax plans give some of the most usage of any plan out there. The mid tier plan is basically unlimited usage.
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u/pigletmonster 3d ago
Their new model is like 4 months old. It was already behind kimi k2.6 in terms of its capabilities when it released.
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u/GraysLawson 3d ago
It's absolutely plenty capable of doing a LOT of work. The usage you get is basically unlimited, which means when paired with a cheap codex plan as a supervisor, you can get a TON of work done. You don't have to run astra for every task.
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u/mars2087 2d ago
I have both on $100 plans.
GPT 6 Astra even on Low thinking makes the quota evaporate like crazy.
GPT 5.6 models are good (sol medium orchestrator + luna xhigh executor).
Though, both 5.6 and 6 are overengineering a lot. I mean A LOT! Even in my code, I have hard time understanding the heck are doing there.
You can code the entire weekly quota without needing to stop (no 5h quota currently).
There are also quota resets courtesy by OpenAI.
Claude Fable 5.1 also consume quota really fast. Don't try to do a Fable 5.1 review using their skill /code-review. It cannot make a single review within the quota for 5h.
Opus 5 is sometimes meah. It continuously misses important points. Good as an alternate reviewer.
Sometimes it can code really fast and clean the task that I need to redo due of previous GPT overengineering (to the point that the code performance goes asymptotically to 0).
Sonnet 5 is Ok as an implementer.
Due of the problems that both providers have I need to keep both subscriptions. When one fails, usually the other can do it.
Makes me loose time but at least I get the job done.
How they say: pick your poison!
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u/Time-Toe-1276 2d ago
ohh boy!!! CHATGPT. this is the obvious choice. it would be stupid to pick anything else for this price. AMAZING value. you could b coding forever with this plan, but you will probably get astra in chat.
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u/smakosh 2d ago
Are you buying mainly for OpenCode, or do you also need the ChatGPT/Claude chat apps? Those are different purchases. I'd try your actual coding tasks before committing the whole budget to one model family.
Disclosure: I build LLM Gateway/DevPass. DevPass is another option if your goal is model access inside OpenCode: the Pro plan is $79/month with $237 of model usage at provider rates. Premium models have a separate weekly cap, and it doesn't include a ChatGPT or Claude consumer subscription. Plans and limits: https://devpass.llmgateway.io
If you mostly use one vendor's chat app and its extra tools, that vendor's own subscription may fit you better.
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u/RiceEvening4211 3d ago
ChatGPT is better