A user attempted to reduce the cost of using Opus 5.5 for coding tasks by employing a cheaper sub-agent, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, to write code while Opus planned and reviewed. Across 12 challenging coding tasks, Opus alone achieved an 81% success rate at $1.20 per task. However, the combined approach with DeepSeek V4.1 Flash resulted in a lower success rate of 67% and a higher cost of $1.29 per task. The user found that none of the tested team designs, involving over 40 setups and 1,200 runs, outperformed Opus used individually, and many were more expensive. AI
IMPACT Demonstrates that combining multiple AI models for coding tasks can be less efficient and more costly than using a single, powerful model.
RANK_REASON User experiment and analysis of AI agent cost-effectiveness.
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