Robert TaFounder & CEO, Clarity · Building Hyper-Personalized Agents

Would you pay more for 2.5x faster Opus?

15 Oct 2026 · 1 min

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1:12

In this short dialogue, Robert Ta and Speaker A discuss the pricing and inclusion of fast mode (referred to as Opus) in AI code generation services. Speaker A points out that OpenAI's Codex includes fast mode within the standard subscription, meaning any usage—whether standard, frontier models, or fast mode—draws from the same quota and simply consumes the subscription faster. In contrast, Anthropic's Claude Code does not bundle fast mode; users must purchase it separately with credits, which cannot be covered by the subscription. Robert expresses confusion about what is actually received for a $200 OpenAI versus a $200 Claude Code license, highlighting the complexity AI builders face when comparing these platforms.

It already is a competitive edge. So like, this is one of the reasons I like Codex because their fast mode is included within your subscription. So like Claude Code fast mode, they have fast mode as well. That's not included in your Claude Code subscription. You have to pay extra for it.
Wait, for real? So wait, so it is super confusing as an AI builder to be like, what am I getting out of the $200 OpenAI versus $200 Claude Code license? So you're saying the speed is not packaged with Claude Code, but it is packaged with Codex.
They have fast mode. And that you can only pay for with credits. You can't pay for out of your subscription, whereas Codex is a lot simpler to understand. It's just everything comes out of your quota. So like whether you want to use Frontier models, you want to use Astra at the highest level of thinking, or you want to use fast mode, it just all comes out of this subscription. It'll just burn your subscription faster.
It's more opaque for sure. Like I'm looking at this speed up responses with fast mode, get faster Opus responses in Claude Code by toggling fast mode. Fast mode is a high-speed config for Cloud Opus, making the model up to 2.5x faster at a higher cost per token. So yeah, that's what they're saying. It will cost more with fast mode, and that is outside of the plans for Cloud Code. That's what Hamel's saying.