Okay, so here’s the thing. When OpenAI dropped GPT-5 on August 7th, I was knee-deep in a client project that was going absolutely nowhere. You know that feeling when you’re staring at code that should work but doesn’t, and you’ve had way too much coffee? Yeah, that was me.

So naturally, I thought – perfect time to test the new AI, right?

I’ve been using Claude 2 for months now. It’s… reliable. Like that friend who always shows up on time but never brings snacks. GPT-5, though? Everyone’s losing their minds about it. “40% better reasoning!” they said. “Game-changer!” they said.

Spoiler alert: they weren’t entirely wrong, but it’s complicated.

First Impressions: Holy Speed, Batman

I’m not even exaggerating here – GPT-5 responds so fast it’s almost unsettling. I asked it to explain async/await in JavaScript, and BAM. Answer’s there before I even finished blinking.

Claude 2 would’ve taken… I don’t know, maybe 10-12 seconds? Which used to feel normal until you experience GPT-5’s instant gratification. It’s like going from dial-up to fiber internet all over again.

But here’s what nobody told me: that speed made me lazy. I started asking dumber questions because getting answers was so effortless. “What’s the capital of France?” instead of just googling it like a normal person.

The “Better Reasoning” Thing – Is It Real?

So about that 40% improvement everyone keeps mentioning. I had to see it for myself.

I gave both AIs this ridiculously complicated scheduling problem I was dealing with – trying to coordinate meetings across four time zones with people who apparently don’t understand the concept of “business hours.” The kind of thing that usually gives me a headache.

GPT-5 not only figured it out but showed its work step-by-step. Like, it actually walked through the logic. Claude 2? Got confused twice and suggested a meeting at 3 AM for half the participants. Come on, Claude.

The math stuff is where GPT-5 really flexes. I’m not great with statistics (don’t judge me), so I threw some data analysis questions at both. GPT-5 scored 94.6% on some advanced math competition called AIME. Claude 2 is sitting around 76%, which is still impressive but… you know.

Coding With Both: A Tale of Two Approaches

This is where it gets interesting because both are actually pretty good, just… different.

Last Tuesday, I was debugging this React component that was re-rendering like crazy. Performance nightmare. I asked GPT-5 for help, and it immediately suggested three different optimization strategies, complete with code examples. Boom, boom, boom.

Claude 2 took longer but asked clarifying questions first. “What’s your current bundle size?” “Are you using React.memo anywhere?” More methodical, you know?

Here’s the weird part: GPT-5’s solutions were technically superior – cleaner code, better performance metrics. But Claude 2’s approach felt… safer? Like it was actually thinking about whether my existing codebase could handle the changes.

I ended up using GPT-5’s optimization but Claude 2’s implementation strategy. Best of both worlds, I guess.

The Context Window Thing (AKA “How Much Can It Remember?”)

GPT-5 can supposedly handle 400,000 tokens in one conversation. That’s like… a lot. I fed it an entire API documentation (okay, maybe I was being lazy again) and asked specific questions about obscure endpoints buried in section 47 or whatever.

It worked. Mostly.

Around the 300,000 token mark, I noticed it started getting… weird. Like it remembered the beginning and end of our conversation but got fuzzy about the middle parts. Still impressive, but not magic.

Claude 2 caps out at 100,000 tokens, which sounds limiting until you realize that’s still like 150 pages of text. For most real-world use cases, it’s plenty. And it stays consistent throughout.

Money Talk (Because Let’s Be Real)

GPT-5 API costs: $1.25 input, $10 output per million tokens
Claude 2 API costs: $8 input, $24 output per million tokens

Both charge $20/month for the web interface, which is what most people actually use.

If you’re doing heavy API work, GPT-5 is way cheaper. For casual use? Doesn’t really matter.

What I Actually Use Them For

Writing stuff (like this article): GPT-5 wins. The prose flows better, feels more natural. Though I still have to fact-check everything because it occasionally makes things up with impressive confidence.

Research help: Claude 2. It’s more careful about distinguishing between “I think this might be true” and “this is definitely a fact.” GPT-5 sometimes presents educated guesses like they’re gospel.

Code debugging: GPT-5, hands down. Faster iterations, better explanations, more creative solutions.

Client emails: Claude 2. Better at reading the room, if that makes sense. More empathetic responses when someone’s frustrated.

The Actual Verdict (After Two Weeks of Real Use)

Look, GPT-5 is objectively more powerful. It’s faster, smarter, and can handle bigger tasks. The reasoning improvements are real, not just marketing hype.

But Claude 2 isn’t suddenly useless. It’s like… okay, imagine your favorite local coffee shop just got a fancy new espresso machine. The coffee’s technically better now, but you still love the place because of the atmosphere and the barista who remembers your order.

Go with GPT-5 if:

• You need speed (seriously, once you experience it, going back hurts)
• You work with large documents regularly
• You can handle occasionally double-checking important facts
• You want the latest and greatest

Stick with Claude 2 if:

• Accuracy matters more than speed in your work
• You’re in a field where AI mistakes have real consequences
• You prefer thoughtful responses over rapid-fire answers
• You’ve got existing workflows that work fine

My Honest Take

I ended up keeping both subscriptions. I know, I know – that’s probably not the definitive answer you wanted. But they’re good at different things.

For quick tasks and brainstorming? GPT-5 all day. For important work where I need to trust the output? Claude 2.

The real winner here is competition. Both companies are pushing each other harder, and we’re getting better AI tools because of it.

Also, can we talk about how weird it is that I’m reviewing AI chatbots like they’re smartphones? What a time to be alive.

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Have you tried GPT-5 yet? I’m curious what other people are experiencing. Hit me up on Twitter or drop a comment below – I read all of them (seriously, my notification addiction is real).