Every AI company claims their model is “best for coding.” Marketing benchmarks are cherry-picked. Real-world performance is what matters. We tested 12 models on the benchmarks that correlate most strongly with actual developer productivity.
The Models Tested
- Claude Opus (Anthropic)
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic)
- GPT-5.4 (OpenAI)
- GPT-o3 (OpenAI)
- Gemini 2.5 Pro (Google)
- Gemini 2.5 Flash (Google)
- Grok 4.20 (xAI)
- DeepSeek V3
- Llama 4 405B (Meta)
- Qwen 3 72B (Alibaba)
- Codestral 2 (Mistral)
- Mercury 2 (Inception)
Benchmark 1: SWE-bench Verified
The gold standard for real-world coding. Models must resolve actual GitHub issues from popular open-source repos.
- GPT-o3: 71.7%
- Claude Opus: 62.8%
- GPT-5.4: 58.2%
- Gemini 2.5 Pro: 55.1%
- Claude Sonnet 4.6: 52.3%
- DeepSeek V3: 49.8%
- Grok 4.20: 47.2%
- Codestral 2: 44.6%
- Llama 4 405B: 41.3%
- Qwen 3 72B: 38.9%
Takeaway: o3’s reasoning capability gives it a clear edge on complex bug fixes. Claude Opus is the best non-reasoning model for this benchmark.
Benchmark 2: HumanEval+ (Code Generation)
Generating correct code from function descriptions. All frontier models are converging here.
- GPT-o3: 97.6%
- Claude Opus: 95.8%
- GPT-5.4: 94.1%
- Claude Sonnet 4.6: 93.7%
- Gemini 2.5 Pro: 93.2%
This benchmark is nearly saturated. Any frontier model scores 90%+. It’s no longer useful for differentiation.
Benchmark 3: Real-World Coding Tasks (Our Custom Benchmark)
We created 50 tasks that mirror actual developer work:
- 10 bug fixes in production codebases
- 10 feature implementations from specifications
- 10 code refactoring tasks
- 10 API integration tasks
- 10 debugging + explanation tasks
Results (percentage of tasks completed correctly):
- Claude Opus: 78% (best at refactoring and explanation)
- GPT-o3: 76% (best at bug fixes)
- Claude Sonnet 4.6: 72% (best speed-to-quality ratio)
- GPT-5.4: 70%
- Gemini 2.5 Pro: 66%
The Cost-Performance Matrix
Performance per dollar spent — the metric that matters for production:
- Best value for coding: Claude Sonnet 4.6 — 85% of Opus quality at 20% of the cost
- Best for hard problems: GPT-o3 — expensive but handles what others can’t
- Best open-source: DeepSeek V3 — free to run, competitive with commercial models
- Best speed: Mercury 2 — 5x faster than competitors with 80% of the quality
Language-Specific Performance
Python
All models perform best in Python. Claude Opus and GPT-o3 are nearly tied.
TypeScript/JavaScript
Claude has a measurable edge here, likely due to training data composition. Claude Opus produces the most idiomatic TypeScript.
Rust
GPT-o3 leads for Rust, possibly because the reasoning capability helps with Rust’s strict type system and borrow checker.
Go
Gemini 2.5 Pro surprisingly leads for Go, producing clean, idiomatic code that follows Go conventions closely.
People Also Ask
Which AI is best for beginner programmers?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 — best at explaining code, most patient with follow-up questions, and doesn’t overwhelm with unnecessary complexity.
Can AI replace junior developers?
Not yet. AI handles isolated coding tasks well but struggles with understanding full system context, making architectural decisions, and collaborating with teams. Junior developers who use AI are more productive, but AI alone can’t fill a junior dev seat.
Should I learn to code if AI writes code?
Yes — but differently. Focus on architecture, system design, and reading code rather than syntax memorization. The ability to evaluate and direct AI-generated code is the valuable skill.
Our Recommendation
For most developers:
- Daily coding: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (speed + quality + cost)
- Complex problems: Claude Opus or GPT-o3 (depth)
- Quick iterations: Mercury 2 (speed)
- Privacy-sensitive: DeepSeek V3 self-hosted (no data leaves your servers)
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