Claude Code vs Codex: Which AI Coding Assistant is Better?
We tested both AI assistants on real coding tasks. Here's our detailed comparison of strengths, weaknesses, and when to use each one.
Kevin M.
Founder
The Contenders
Claude Code by Anthropic and Codex by OpenAI are the two heavyweight CLI-based AI coding assistants. Both can read your codebase, suggest changes, and execute commands. But they have very different personalities.
Test Methodology
We ran both assistants through a series of real-world tasks:
All tests were run on the same codebase, with identical prompts, multiple times to account for variability.
Results Summary
Detailed Analysis
Bug Fixing
Claude Code consistently found root causes faster. It asked clarifying questions, traced through call stacks, and proposed fixes that addressed the underlying issue rather than just the symptom.
Codex was faster but sometimes proposed band-aid solutions. It was excellent at syntax errors but struggled with logic bugs.
Winner: Claude Code
Test Writing
Both performed well here. Claude wrote more comprehensive test cases with better edge coverage. Codex was faster and its tests were more idiomatic for the testing framework we were using (Jest).
Winner: Tie (depends on your priorities)
Refactoring
This is where Claude really shines. It understood architectural patterns, proposed meaningful abstractions, and maintained backwards compatibility without being asked.
Codex made changes that worked but often lost context about why the code was structured a certain way.
Winner: Claude Code
New Features
Both assistants implemented features correctly. Claude was more verbose in its explanations. Codex was more concise and got to working code faster.
Winner: Tie
Code Review
Claude provided thoughtful, nuanced feedback. It caught security issues, suggested performance improvements, and explained the reasoning behind each suggestion.
Codex focused more on style and syntax, missing some deeper issues.
Winner: Claude Code
When to Use Each
Use Claude Code when:
Use Codex when:
Our Recommendation
For most professional development work, Claude Code is the better choice. Its reasoning capabilities and context understanding are simply superior for complex tasks.
However, having access to both is ideal. That's why Craaft supports multi-provider — switch between Claude and Codex based on the task at hand.
Try Both with Craaft
Craaft lets you use Claude Code and Codex from the same interface. Switch providers with a click, compare results, and use the best tool for each job.