J'ai fait coder la même app à Claude sur chaque niveau d'effort

J'ai fait coder la même app à Claude sur chaque niveau d'effort

I had Claude code the same app at every effort level

🎙 Shubham SHARMA 👥 324K 📅 October 19, 2026 ⏱ 24 min 👁 49K 📄 original study 🧭 2026-10-20
Available in: English (current) Français

Keywords

Claudeeffort levelAPI costbenchmarkcoding

Summary

The video presents a systematic test of Claude’s ’effort level’ feature (low, medium, high, extra, max, and UltraCode) by asking the model to complete four distinct projects: cloning the Raycast website, generating a 3D virtual conference world, analyzing a contract with hidden pitfalls, and building an invoice/quote application. For each task, the author runs the same prompt at each effort level, then compares the output quality, development time, and API cost. Results show that while lower effort levels are surprisingly capable and cost-effective, higher levels (especially Extra and Max) often deliver marginal quality improvements at significantly higher prices. UltraCode, the most expensive tier, excels in tasks requiring precision (like complex 3D scenes) but fails to justify its cost in simpler tasks such as contract review or app building. The author concludes that the optimal choice depends on the task’s complexity and the user’s budget, recommending Medium or High for everyday work and UltraCode only for high-stakes projects. The video includes practical demonstrations, cost breakdowns, and a link to test the generated projects live.

173 words

Critical Evaluation

Value of the Information & Strength of the Argument

The value of the information lies in its practical, hands-on approach: the author provides concrete cost and quality data for real-world coding tasks across all effort levels. The argumentation is logically structured, comparing outputs side-by-side and quantifying API token usage and dollar amounts. However, the conclusions are based on a single run per configuration, with no repeated trials or statistical analysis. The subjective quality assessments (e.g., ’looks better’, ‘feels more polished’) lack quantitative benchmarks, and the test scenarios, while diverse, are not exhaustive. The author does acknowledge these limitations, noting that results may vary with prompt nuances. Overall, the video offers a useful initial exploration but does not constitute a rigorous scientific comparison.

Scientific Rigor, Source Quality, Title Accuracy

The video’s scientific rigor is limited: it is an informal benchmark without a controlled methodology, and it relies on the creator’s own evaluations rather than third-party measurements. Sources are primarily the author’s own web resources (live demos, prompts, newsletter) provided in the description; no external scientific references are cited. The subject matter is current and relevant, and the title accurately reflects the content, as the video indeed tests the same app at each effort level. The lack of reproducibility (due to model updates and non-public exact prompts) reduces its reliability, but the transparency about costs and token usage adds some credibility.

229 words

Title / Content Match

The title accurately reflects the content: the author tests the same app coding across different effort levels and compares results and costs.

Quality & Reliability

5/10

The video provides a practical comparison of Claude effort levels across four tasks with transparent cost metrics, but is based on single trials, subjective quality assessment, and lacks statistical rigor or external validation.

Chapters

Cited Sources

  • Live examples — The author encourages viewers to test the generated projects live.
  • Prompts used in the video — The author provides the exact prompts for each test.
  • Newsletter — The author invites viewers to join his newsletter.
  • Private workshops waitlist — List for upcoming private workshops.
  • Author's website — Personal website portal.
  • LinkedIn — Social network profile.
  • TikTok — Social media account.
  • Twitter — Social media account.
  • Instagram — Social media profile.

Contribution & Novelties

The video provides a practical, cost–benefit analysis of Claude’s effort level feature, offering a hands-on comparison that is not official Anthropic documentation. It highlights diminishing returns in quality as effort increases, and reveals that UltraCode excelled only in the 3D world test, not in contract review or app development. This nuanced insight helps users choose the appropriate tier based on task complexity.

Pour aller plus loin :

133 words

Radar Profile

The radar profile shows moderate scores across quantity and quality of information, with lower reliability and technical depth. The video is rich in examples and cost data but lacks rigorous methodology and technical exploration, resulting in a balanced but not outstanding profile.

Reliability 5/10