📝 Executive Summary
Claude Opus 4.5 is the high-end AI model released by Anthropic in November 2025.
As the "Coding Champion," it boasts performance that overwhelms competitors in complex engineering
tasks and autonomous agent operations (Computer Use).
However, entering January 2026, there have been successive reports of performance degradation (the
"Lobotomized" theory) in some areas, and users are in a phase of carefully judging whether it is
worth the high cost.
💰 Pricing Details
- Claude Pro: $20/month (Individuals, with usage limits)
- Claude Team: $25/user/month (5+ users, with team management features)
- API Pricing: Input $5.00 / Output $25.00 (per 1M tokens)
🎯 Key Benchmark Results
| Benchmark | Score | Evaluation |
|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 80.9% | No. 1 in the World |
| Terminal-Bench | 59.3% | Strongest in Operation Automation |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 37.6% | Slightly behind GPT-5.2 |
✅ Pros and Cons
👍 Pros
- World's best coding capability (SWE-bench 80.9%).
- Automation of GUI operations via Computer Use.
- Natural and sophisticated writing style for long-form content.
👎 Cons
- Reports of performance dips in early 2026 (the "Lobotomized" theory).
- Extremely high API costs compared to competitors.
- Slower inference response than other SOTA models.
💭 Reddit User Sentiment
Positive Comments
"Opus is the only one I can trust with complex refactoring. I'm afraid to use other models."
"I had it deploy an app made with Artifacts on the spot. This is the future."
Negative Comments
"It's clearly become dumber since January. It forgets simple instructions; where did its previous brilliance go?"
"It's too 'lazy.' Even when asked to write the whole code, it brushes me off with omitted comments."
🎯 Recommended Use Cases
- Production-level Complex Coding - Consistent development from design to implementation.
- Autonomous Agent Tasks - Automation of PC operations across multiple apps.
- Writing Papers Requiring Deep Thought - Organizing logical structures and refining writing styles to the limit.
📊 Conclusion & Overall Rating
Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (3.8/5.0)
Claude Opus 4.5 is undoubtedly a "tool for artisans." Its "depth" in coding and complex reasoning
sits in a realm untouched by others.
However, its unstable behavior and high cost in early 2026 are non-negligible drawbacks. For
professionals pursuing "quality over quantity," it is a unique but perhaps temperamental
genius.
