Claude Opus 4.1 • Hacker News Board

Re: Claude Opus 4.1

#61

Post by stavros » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 5:57 PM UTC

rirze wrote: post #56

furyofantares wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a bit confused by people hitting usage limits so quickly. I use Opus exclusively and don't hit limits. ccusage reports I'm using the API-equivalent of $2000/mo

You always have to ask which plan they're paying for. Sometimes people complain about the $20 per month plan...

There's no Opus quota on that plan at all.

Re: Claude Opus 4.1

#62

Post by jjani » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 5:58 PM UTC

rvz wrote: post #55

Notice how Anthropic has never open sourced any of their models. This makes them (Anthropic) worse than OpenAI in terms of openness. Since in this case as we all know. [0] "What will permanently change everything is open source and transparent AI models that are smaller and more powerful than GPT-3 or even GPT-4." [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34865626

On the other hand, they have always exposed their raw chain of thought, so you know exactly what you're paying for, unlike OpenAI who hides it. Similarly they allow an actual thinking budget rather than vague "low, medium, high", again unlike OpenAI. They also allow API access to all their models without draconic send-us-your-personal-data-KYC, once more unlikely OpenAI.

They might not fit your personal definition of "openness", but they do fit many other equally valid interpretations of that contept.

Re: Claude Opus 4.1

#63

Post by adamors » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 5:59 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #60

Am I the only one super confused about how to even get started trying out this stuff? Just so I wouldn't be "that critic who doesn't try the stuff he criticizes," I tried GitHub Copilot and was kind of not very impressed. Someone on HN told me Copilot sucks, use Claude. But I have no idea what the right way to do it is because there are so many paths to choose. Let's see: we have Claude Code vs. Claude the API vs. Cl…

Download Cursor and try it through that, IMO that's currently the most polished experience especially since you can change models on the fly. For more advanced usecases, CLI is better but for getting your feet wet I think Cursor is the best choice.

Re: Claude Opus 4.1

#64

Post by ramesh31 » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 5:59 PM UTC

Will the price for 4 go down? I still find Opus completely unusable for the cost/performance, as someone who spends thousands per month on tokens. There's really no noticeable difference from Sonnet, at nearly 10x the price.

Re: Claude Opus 4.1

#65

Post by olalonde » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 6:00 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #60

Am I the only one super confused about how to even get started trying out this stuff? Just so I wouldn't be "that critic who doesn't try the stuff he criticizes," I tried GitHub Copilot and was kind of not very impressed. Someone on HN told me Copilot sucks, use Claude. But I have no idea what the right way to do it is because there are so many paths to choose. Let's see: we have Claude Code vs. Claude the API vs. Cl…

Claude Code CLI.

Re: Claude Opus 4.1

#66

Post by candiddevmike » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 6:00 PM UTC

qsort wrote: post #5

All three major labs released something within hours of each other. This anime arc is insane.

It's definitely a coincidence

Re: Claude Opus 4.1

#67

Post by wilg » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 6:02 PM UTC

candiddevmike wrote: post #66

qsort wrote: post #5

All three major labs released something within hours of each other. This anime arc is insane.

It's definitely a coincidence

It's not a coincidence or a cartel, it's PR counterprogramming.

Re: Claude Opus 4.1

#68

Post by collinvandyck76 » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 6:02 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #60

Am I the only one super confused about how to even get started trying out this stuff? Just so I wouldn't be "that critic who doesn't try the stuff he criticizes," I tried GitHub Copilot and was kind of not very impressed. Someone on HN told me Copilot sucks, use Claude. But I have no idea what the right way to do it is because there are so many paths to choose. Let's see: we have Claude Code vs. Claude the API vs. Cl…

Claude Code is the superior interface in my opinion. Definitely start there.

Re: Claude Opus 4.1

#69

Post by Filligree » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 6:03 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #60

Am I the only one super confused about how to even get started trying out this stuff? Just so I wouldn't be "that critic who doesn't try the stuff he criticizes," I tried GitHub Copilot and was kind of not very impressed. Someone on HN told me Copilot sucks, use Claude. But I have no idea what the right way to do it is because there are so many paths to choose. Let's see: we have Claude Code vs. Claude the API vs. Cl…

You need Claude Pro or Max. The website subscription also allows you to use the command line tool—the rate limits are shared—and the command line tool includes IDE integration, at least for VSCode.

Claude Code is currently best-in-class, so no point in starting elsewhere, but you do need to read the documentation.

Re: Claude Opus 4.1

#70

Post by vlade11115 » Tue, Aug 05, 2025, 6:04 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #60

Am I the only one super confused about how to even get started trying out this stuff? Just so I wouldn't be "that critic who doesn't try the stuff he criticizes," I tried GitHub Copilot and was kind of not very impressed. Someone on HN told me Copilot sucks, use Claude. But I have no idea what the right way to do it is because there are so many paths to choose. Let's see: we have Claude Code vs. Claude the API vs. Cl…

Claude Code has two usage modes: pay-per-token or subscription. Both modes are using API under the hood, but with subscription mode you are only paying a fixed amount a month. Each subscription tier has some undisclosed limits, cheaper plans have lower usage limits. So I would recommend paying $20 and trying the Claude Code via that subscription.