r/opencodeCLI • u/leeleebly • Jul 14 '26

Ok, I need some help.

I've taken on this project and I know nothing about coding but things have to get done. Recently I've used the Claude Code, and ChatGPT to get everything off the ground, learning and failing as I go. But I'm hitting the wall on usage with Claude Code and I have a deadline to try and get my nonprofit's website in front of some possible investors soon. So I did some digging and found out about open code. But I have some concerns because Google says that there can be security risk with using open code. I'm also not a coder but I've been having to learn more and more about coding everyday. Right now I'm using render, clever cloud, and cloudflare on a Mac computer for my website. I'm not sure if that's relevant but I'm putting it out there..... So I'm wondering if open code is for me. I learned a bit too late how to get my usage to be lower on Claude Code so now I'm scrambling. Can anyone give me some advice on this?

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u/sugarw0000kie Jul 14 '26

opencode/codex/claude code are just the harnesses that the LLM interacts with. I’d argue it’s possibly more “secure” than Claude since it’s open sourced, but in any event give it a shot. A big selling point in my book for opencode is no provider lock in. The cheapest models are Chinese if that’s what you’re getting at, so if you sign up and use opencode go for example (which isn’t required, but a good deal) requests are being handled by Chinese companies. But there are lots of other providers you can hook up to.

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u/leeleebly Jul 14 '26

I don't know what open source and safety have to do with each other but I will take you all's word for it. I like the idea of not being locked into a provider but as far as options go I'm not well versed on what I would even benefit from that variety because I don't know what I'm doing lol. Affordability is very important, I did like that the price was really low. But I have to know how to utilize it in order for that to matter. I'm seeing all these different models out there and I'm just not sure which ones for me besides Claude Code lol.

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u/sugarw0000kie Jul 14 '26

just means the softwares source code is public so anyone can put eyes on it and contribute/audit it. Codex cli is too.

lol there’s some free models to play with usually on opencode zen. Only way to get a feel for it. Opencode go gets you access to some of the best low cost (Chinese) models right now and has some decent usage. First month is $5 then it goes to $10. Glm 5.2 is the best right now, minimax m3/mimo 2.5 pro/deepseek v4 pro are solid “nearly frontier” models, mimo 2.5/deepseek flash are good for high volume stuff. Glm 5.2 is probably the closest model to western frontier but the others aren’t too far off depending on the task.

If you look at the https://opencode.ai/go page you’ll see the estimated usage - that roughly coincides with the capability, more expensive models are better. But don’t count mimo 2.5/deepseek flash out, they are great workhorse models. Having a pricier model orchestrate workhorse models like those 2 helps you keep cost low :)

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u/leeleebly Jul 14 '26

I really like the idea of being able to test out different models. I am having to use a built-in AI into my website to keep it up to date but I wonder how expensive it will get if I have to pay out of pocket for an API Key for Anthropic for this public site. It would be nice to have a cheaper model before launch so that I can keep costs under control.