Hey Reader,

Opus 4.7 dropped last week. GPT-5.4 is probably getting an update this/next week.

So let’s talk about what I actually pay for, what I actually use, and what you should do if you can only pick one.

Quick answer: the best setup is still both. Claude AND Codex. But that’s not realistic for everyone, so let me break it down.

Claude (Opus 4.7).

Best all-rounder. Jack of all trades, master of none.

Code? Pretty good.
​Writing? Very good.
​Designing? Best-in-class.

If you can only afford one subscription, this is it.

But skip the $20 Pro plan. Go minimum Max 5x or don’t bother.

The $20 tier will leave you rate-limited and frustrated by from day 1.

Heads up: no image generation. And they ship so fast their QA is basically you. Bugs happen weekly.

Still, Claude.ai and Claude Code are both genuinely excellent. For most people reading this, this is your pick.

Codex (GPT-5.4).

Codex is the best coder in the world. Full stop.

But the ChatGPT product around it is kind of trash.

Every time I open it I get annoyed. It hallucinates and is borderline useless.

Exception: GPT-5.4-pro is the smartest research model on the planet. Nothing touches it for deep thinking.

But Codex cannot design to save its life.

Your apps will look like a 2004 Craigslist page. And I’d never write an email like this one with it.

So for me, Codex is the complimentary subscription. I write most of my production code with it because it’s more reliable and more trustworthy than anything else.

Most of my clients do the same.

Think of Codex as the quiet engineer in the back who ships clean work but can’t pick out a shirt.

Claude is the designer-writer-generalist up front.

Cursor.

This one confuses people because of the price.

Cursor is expensive.

Like $300, $400, $500, sometimes $1,000+ a month.

Especially if you’re running the best models without watching the meter.

But here’s the thing. Cursor has the best user experience in AI coding, period.

You don’t switch between tools.

Cursor orchestrates the models for you.

Best Claude integration and smoothest MCP/Skills plugin system.

A massive community with real events in real cities every week.

It’s like hiring a general contractor instead of managing every sub yourself.

It does cost more (a lot more), but i does save your sanity.

Not worth it for solo hobbyists.

100% worth it for businesses, teams, or anyone whose time is worth more than their AI bill.

What YOU should use.

• One subscription: Claude Max 5x.
• Two subscriptions: Claude Max 5x + ChatGPT 5x.
• Money is not the problem: just use Cursor for everything

That’s my April 2026 recommendation.

Copy it, tweak it, ship something.

Talk next week,
Rob

P.S. Opus 4.7 is a few days old now and I have a lot of thoughts. I’ll stress test some more, report back in my next email. It supposedly is a lot better with creative things like designing and writing. It wrote this email. Did you notice?