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A flat pricing subscription for Claude Code

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Re: A flat pricing subscription for Claude Code

#51

Post by thegeomaster »

cye131 wrote: post #26

I'm curious whether anyone's actually using Claude code successfully. I tried it on release and found it negative value for tasks other than spinning up generic web projects. For existing codebases of even a moderate size, it burns through cash to write code that is always slightly wrong and requires more tuning than writing it myself.

Absolutely stellar for 0-to-1-oriented frontend-related tasks, less so but still quite useful for isolated features in backends. For larger changes or smaller changes in large/more interconnected codebases, refactors, test-run-fix-loops, and similar, it has mostly provided negative value for me unfortunately. I keep wondering if it's a me problem. It would probably do much better if I wrote very lengthy prompts to micromanage little details, but I've found that to be a surprisingly draining activity, so I prefer to give it a shot with a more generic prompt and either let it run or give up, depending on which direction it takes.

Re: A flat pricing subscription for Claude Code

#52

Post by slrainka »

F7F7F7 wrote: post #29
slrainka wrote: post #24

Agent mode without rails is like a boat without a rudder. What worked for me was coming up with an extremely opinionated way to develop an application and then generating instructions (mini milestones) by combining it with the requirements. These instructions end up being very explicit in the sequence of things it should do (write the tests first), how the code should be written and where to place it etc. So the outp…

I've tried every variation of this very thing. Even managed to build a quick and dirty ticketing system that I could assign to the LLM of my choosing. WITH context. Talking Graph Codebase's diagrams, mappings, tree structure of every possibility, simple documentation, complex documentation, a bunch of OSS to do this very thing automatically etcetcetc. In the codebase I've tried modularity via monorepo, or faux micros…

So, relying on a large context can be tricky. Instead I’ve tried to get to a ER model quickly. And from there build modules that don’t have tight dependencies.

Using Gemini 2.5 for generating instructions

This is the guide I use

https://github.com/bluedevilx/ai-driven-development/blob/mai...

Re: A flat pricing subscription for Claude Code

#53

Post by Aurornis »

tkzed49 wrote: post #14

The problem is that this is $100/mo with limits. At work I use Cursor, which is pretty good (especially tab completion), and at home I use Copilot in vscode insiders build, which is catching up to Cursor IMO. However, as long as Microsoft is offering copilot at (presumably subsidized) $10/mo, I'm not interested in paying 10x as much and still having limits. It would have to be 10x as useful, and I doubt that.

> The problem is that this is $100/mo with limits

Limits are a given on any plan. It would be too easy for a vibe coder to hammer away 8 hours a day for 20 days a week if there was nothing stopping them.

The real question is whether this is a better value than pay as you go for some people.

Re: A flat pricing subscription for Claude Code

#55

Post by dttze »

BowBun wrote: post #47
ramoz wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. For small apps, as well distributed systems. You have to puppeteer it and build a meta context/tasking management system. I spend a lot of time setting Claude code up for success. I usually start with Gemini for creating context, development plans, and project tasking outlines (I can feed large portions of codebase to Gemini and rely on its strategy). I’ve even put entire library docsites in my repos for Claude…

Is that final number really that crazy? With a well defined goal, you can put out 5-8K per day by writing code the old fashioned way. Also would love to see the code, since in my experience (I use Cursor as a daily driver), AI bloats code by 50% or more with unnecessary comments and whitespace especially when making full classes/files. > I spend a lot of time setting Claude code up for success. Normally I wouldn't po…

You'll never see the code. They will just say how amazingly awesome it is, how it will fundamentally alter how coding is done, etc... and then nothing. Then if you look into who posts it, they work in some AI related startup and aren't even a coder.

Re: A flat pricing subscription for Claude Code

#56

Post by htrp »

Aurornis wrote: post #53
tkzed49 wrote: post #14

The problem is that this is $100/mo with limits. At work I use Cursor, which is pretty good (especially tab completion), and at home I use Copilot in vscode insiders build, which is catching up to Cursor IMO. However, as long as Microsoft is offering copilot at (presumably subsidized) $10/mo, I'm not interested in paying 10x as much and still having limits. It would have to be 10x as useful, and I doubt that.

> The problem is that this is $100/mo with limits Limits are a given on any plan. It would be too easy for a vibe coder to hammer away 8 hours a day for 20 days a week if there was nothing stopping them. The real question is whether this is a better value than pay as you go for some people.

> 8 hours a day for 20 days a week

Your vibe coders are on a different dimension than mine.

Re: A flat pricing subscription for Claude Code

#57

Post by lkbm »

pier25 wrote: post #49

$200/month? Do people really get that much value from these tools? I use Github's Copilot for $10 and I'm somewhat happy for what I get... but paying 10x or 20x that just seems insane.

If your employer spends $20k a month on you (salary + everything else), $200 a month breaks even at around a 1% boost in productivity.

Re: A flat pricing subscription for Claude Code

#58

Post by satvikpendem »

ramoz wrote: post #32
tkzed49 wrote: post #14

The problem is that this is $100/mo with limits. At work I use Cursor, which is pretty good (especially tab completion), and at home I use Copilot in vscode insiders build, which is catching up to Cursor IMO. However, as long as Microsoft is offering copilot at (presumably subsidized) $10/mo, I'm not interested in paying 10x as much and still having limits. It would have to be 10x as useful, and I doubt that.

Doesn’t resonate with me because I’ve spent over $1,000 on Claude Code at this point and the return is worth it. The spend feels cheap compared to output. In contrast - I’m not interested in using cheaper, less-than, services for my livelihood.

> the return is worth it

I'm curious, what was the return? What did you do with the 1k?

Re: A flat pricing subscription for Claude Code

#59

Post by pier25 »

lkbm wrote: post #57
pier25 wrote: post #49

$200/month? Do people really get that much value from these tools? I use Github's Copilot for $10 and I'm somewhat happy for what I get... but paying 10x or 20x that just seems insane.

If your employer spends $20k a month on you (salary + everything else), $200 a month breaks even at around a 1% boost in productivity.

Maybe if you're working in FAANG...
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