Descriptions:
Craig Hewitt puts GPT 5.5 (via Codex) and Claude Opus 4.7 through six structured tasks built around real business operations rather than synthetic benchmarks: codebase security review, strategy planning, long-form writing, research synthesis, comparative analysis, and agentic execution. All testing is conducted on Hewitt’s actual Next.js product — Outlier, a YouTube strategy tool — using Opus 4.7 at Extra High and GPT 5.5 at High, the configurations each provider recommends.
The codebase review task surfaces a striking divergence: Codex and Claude identified almost entirely different issues in the same repository, with Codex returning seven problems and Opus flagging approximately twenty. Hewitt calls it a tie on depth and actionability despite the volume gap. The writing task produces a clear GPT 5.5 win after Opus generates a script with internal contradictions — simultaneously referencing “last Tuesday” and “two weeks of testing.” Research synthesis and comparative analysis tasks reveal GPT 5.5’s strengths in web-search-driven synthesis, while Opus retains advantages in planning quality and reading between the lines of ambiguous prompts.
A central takeaway reinforced throughout is the Opus-to-plan, GPT-to-execute hybrid workflow, which Hewitt and other practitioners find increasingly compelling following the simultaneous release of Opus 4.7 and GPT 5.5. For operators and founders evaluating which model to trust for day-to-day knowledge work, this video offers one of the more grounded head-to-head assessments available at launch, grounded in real codebases and actual business tasks.
📺 Source: Craig Hewitt · Published April 24, 2026
🏷️ Format: Comparison
