--- title: I can't believe how good this AI coding model is, and it... description: A personal hands-on comparison of Grok 4.5 against Composer 2.5 and Claude Code inside Cursor, focused on building and iterating on a website from scratch. The... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-can-t-believe-how-good-this-ai-coding-model-is-and-it-isn-t-from-openai-or-anthropic-kiu1haqe7 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I can't believe how good this AI coding model is, and it isn't from OpenAI or Anthropic | daily.dev og:description: A personal hands-on comparison of Grok 4.5 against Composer 2.5 and Claude Code inside Cursor, focused on building and iterating on a website from scratch. The... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-can-t-believe-how-good-this-ai-coding-model-is-and-it-isn-t-from-openai-or-anthropic-kiu1haqe7 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/kiu1HAQE7.png og:image:alt: I can't believe how good this AI coding model is, and it isn't from OpenAI or Anthropic og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I can't believe how good this AI coding model is, and it isn't from OpenAI or Anthropic **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A personal hands-on comparison of Grok 4.5 against Composer 2.5 and Claude Code inside Cursor, focused on building and iterating on a website from scratch. The standout finding is token efficiency: Grok 4.5 built an entire site using roughly 40k tokens while staying direct and fast on small tweaks, avoiding unnecessary codebase exploration. The author still prefers Claude Code for complex, multi-part reasoning tasks but has adopted Grok 4.5 as a permanent addition to their Cursor workflow, and is anticipating Grok 4.6 for further improvements. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How many tokens did Grok 4.5 use to build a full website in Cursor? Grok 4.5 consumed only around 40,000 tokens to build an entire premium speakers website from scratch inside Cursor, including page structure, navigation, product descriptions, and visual design. This token efficiency stood out compared to other coding models, which typically require far more tokens for comparable output. _Developers weighing token costs across coding models can compare real usage patterns on daily.dev._ ### Should I use Grok 4.5 or Claude Code for complex coding tasks in Cursor? Claude Code remains the better choice for complicated features, messy codebases, or problems requiring deep reasoning where a wrong decision could cause downstream issues. Grok 4.5 excels instead at fast, token-efficient work and rapid iteration on smaller tweaks, making it a complement rather than a full replacement for Claude Code. _Anyone choosing between AI coding models for a project can track hands-on comparisons like this on daily.dev._ ### Why did Composer 2.5 in Cursor feel underwhelming for larger coding tasks? Composer 2.5 was fast and handled smaller coding tasks well but became frustrating on larger, real-world projects involving dozens of files, existing design choices, and decisions requiring judgment. It never provided enough reason to abandon trusted Claude Code models for demanding work. _Developers evaluating Cursor's built-in models against alternatives can follow real-world testing on daily.dev._ --- Tags: [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding), [#claude-code](https://daily.dev/tags/claude-code), [#grok](https://daily.dev/tags/grok) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-can-t-believe-how-good-this-ai-coding-model-is-and-it-isn-t-from-openai-or-anthropic-kiu1haqe7) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I can't believe how good this AI coding model is, and it isn't from OpenAI or Anthropic","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-can-t-believe-how-good-this-ai-coding-model-is-and-it-isn-t-from-openai-or-anthropic-kiu1haqe7","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-can-t-believe-how-good-this-ai-coding-model-is-and-it-isn-t-from-openai-or-anthropic-kiu1haqe7"},"datePublished":"2026-08-12T11:35:13.620Z","dateModified":"2026-08-12T11:35:52.406Z","description":"A personal hands-on comparison of Grok 4.5 against Composer 2.5 and Claude Code inside Cursor, focused on building and iterating on a website from scratch. 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This token efficiency stood out compared to other coding models, which typically require far more tokens for comparable output. Developers weighing token costs across coding models can compare real usage patterns on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Should I use Grok 4.5 or Claude Code for complex coding tasks in Cursor?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Claude Code remains the better choice for complicated features, messy codebases, or problems requiring deep reasoning where a wrong decision could cause downstream issues. Grok 4.5 excels instead at fast, token-efficient work and rapid iteration on smaller tweaks, making it a complement rather than a full replacement for Claude Code. 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