{"slug": "openai-chatgpt-5-vs-grok-4-which-one-creates-better-python-code", "title": "OpenAI ChatGPT 5 vs Grok 4 - Which one creates better Python code?", "summary": "A developer compared OpenAI's ChatGPT 5 and xAI's Grok 4 across ten Python coding challenges, evaluating code correctness, readability, execution speed, and adaptability. ChatGPT 5 responded near-instantly on every task, while Grok 4 took longer to respond, thinking for up to roughly 23 seconds on an API integration challenge. ChatGPT 5 generally produced shorter code with entrypoints, though its example usage in one algorithmic challenge contained a bug, while Grok 4 favored simpler code with comments.", "body_md": "When it comes to AI-assisted coding, **OpenAI ChatGPT 5** and **Grok 4** are two of the hottest tools of 2025. Both claim to write Python code with high accuracy and efficiency, but which one actually delivers cleaner, more maintainable scripts in real-world scenarios?\n\nIn this article, we'll pit **ChatGPT 5** and **Grok 4** against each other in multiple Python challenges. We will review **code correctness**, **readability**, **execution speed**, and **adaptability** when given tricky prompts.\n\n## \n  \n  \n  Why Compare ChatGPT 5 and Grok 4 for Python?\n\nPython remains the go-to language for AI, automation, and data science. Many developers now rely on AI to accelerate their coding workflow, debug faster, and even generate full applications from scratch.\n\nWhile ChatGPT has long dominated this space, Grok has been gaining attention for its **code clarity** and **concise outputs**. Both use different training philosophies, ChatGPT's emphasis on reasoning vs. Grok's focus on brevity.\n\n## \n  \n  \n  Testing OpenAI ChatGPT 5 and Grok 4\n\nWe will compare the two AIs in **10 Python coding** test cases:\n\n1. \n**Basic Script** (Even number sum)\n2. \n**Data Processing** (CSV totals)\n3. \n**Algorithmic Problem** (First non-repeating char)\n4. \n**API Integration** (Bitcoin price fetch)\n5. \n**Web Scraping** (Hacker News headlines)\n6. \n**File Compression** (Zip .txt files)\n7. \n**Image Processing** (Resize JPEGs)\n8. \n**Multithreading** (Concurrent downloads)\n9. \n**Database Interaction** (SQLite CRUD)\n10. \n**Unit Testing** (Prime number test)\n\nAll prompts will be identical and submitted to **ChatGPT 5** and **Grok 4**. You can run the tests yourself to validate results.\n\n### \n  \n  \n  Python Challenge 1 - Basic Script\n\n**Challenge 1 Prompt:**\n\nWrite a Python script that reads a list of integers and outputs the sum of even numbers.\n\n**Challenge 1 GPT 5 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 1 Grok 4 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 1 Observations:**\n\n- \n**GPT 5 Speed** : Very fast response, near instant.\n- \n**GPT 5 Code** : Provided shorter and elegant code with entrypoint, with comments.\n- \n**Grok 4 Speed** : Slower response, \"thought\" a bit longer (~2 seconds).\n- \n**Grok 4 Code** : Provided a bit longer code and without entrypoint, but with comments.\n\n### \n  \n  \n  Python Challenge 2 - Data Processing\n\n**Challenge 2 Prompt:**\n\nLoad a CSV file of transactions and print the total sales per product.\n\n**Challenge 2 GPT 5 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 2 Grok 4 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 2 Observations:**\n\n- \n**GPT 5 Speed** : Very fast response, near instant.\n- \n**GPT 5 Code** : Provided a bit longer and elegant code with entrypoint, but without comments.\n- \n**Grok 4 Speed** : Slower response, \"thought\" a bit longer (~13 seconds).\n- \n**Grok 4 Code** : Provided simpler code and without entrypoint, but with comments.\n\n### \n  \n  \n  Python Challenge 3 - Algorithmic Problem\n\n**Challenge 3 Prompt:**\n\nGiven a string, return the first non-repeating character.\n\n**Challenge 3 GPT 5 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 3 Grok 4 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 3 Observations:**\n\n- \n**GPT 5 Speed** : Very fast response, near instant.\n- \n**GPT 5 Code** : Provided short code without an entrypoint and without comments. Example usage has a bug.\n- \n**Grok 4 Speed** : Slower response, \"thought\" a bit longer (~8 seconds).\n- \n**Grok 4 Code** : Provided short code without an entrypoint, with a brief docstring.\n\n### \n  \n  \n  Python Challenge 4 - API Integration\n\n**Challenge 4 Prompt:**\n\nUse the requests library to fetch the current Bitcoin price in USD from a public API and print it.\n\n**Challenge 4 GPT 5 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 4 Grok 4 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 4 Observations:**\n\n- \n**GPT 5 Speed** : Very fast response, near instant.\n- \n**GPT 5 Code** : Provided short and elegant code with entrypoint, but without comments.\n- \n**Grok 4 Speed** : Slower response, \"thought\" a bit longer (~23 seconds).\n- \n**Grok 4 Code** : Provided a bit shorter code and without entrypoint but with comments.\n\n### \n  \n  \n  Python Challenge 5 - Web Scraping\n\n**Challenge 5 Prompt:**\n\nUse requests and BeautifulSoup to scrape the top 5 news headlines from [https://news.ycombinator.com/](https://news.ycombinator.com/) and print them.\n\n**Challenge 5 GPT 5 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 5 Grok 4 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 5 Observations:**\n\n- \n**GPT 5 Speed** : Very fast response, near instant.\n- \n**GPT 5 Code** : Provided short and elegant code with entrypoint, but without comments.\n- \n**Grok 4 Speed** : Slower response, \"thought\" a bit longer (~13 seconds).\n- \n**Grok 4 Code** : Provided a bit longer code and without entrypoint but with comments.\n\n### \n  \n  \n  Python Challenge 6 - File Compression\n\n**Challenge 6 Prompt:**\n\nCreate a Python script that zips all .txt files in the current directory into 'archive.zip'.\n\n**Challenge 6 GPT 5 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 6 Grok 4 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 6 Observations:**\n\n- \n**GPT 5 Speed** : Very fast response, near instant.\n- \n**GPT 5 Code** : Provided short and elegant code with entrypoint, but without comments.\n- \n**Grok 4 Speed** : Slower response, \"thought\" a bit longer (~10 seconds).\n- \n**Grok 4 Code** : Provided short code and without entrypoint but with comments.\n\n### \n  \n  \n  Python Challenge 7 - Image Processing\n\n**Challenge 7 Prompt:**\n\nUse Pillow (PIL) to resize all JPEG images in the current directory to 800x600 pixels and save them to an 'output' folder.\n\n**Challenge 7 GPT 5 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 7 Grok 4 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 7 Observations:**\n\n- \n**GPT 5 Speed** : Very fast response, near instant.\n- \n**GPT 5 Code** : Provided short and elegant code with entrypoint, with comments.\n- \n**Grok 4 Speed** : Slower response, \"thought\" a bit longer (~10 seconds).\n- \n**Grok 4 Code** : Provided a bit longer code and without entrypoint, with comments.\n\n### \n  \n  \n  Python Challenge 8 - Multithreading\n\n**Challenge 8 Prompt:**\n\nCreate a Python script that downloads 5 different files from given URLs concurrently using threading.\n\n**Challenge 8 GPT 5 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 8 Grok 4 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 8 Observations:**\n\n- \n**GPT 5 Speed** : Slower response, \"thought\" a bit longer (~10 seconds).\n- \n**GPT 5 Code** : Provided long and elegant code with entrypoint, with comments.\n- \n**Grok 4 Speed** : Even slower response, \"thought\" a bit longer (~21 seconds).\n- \n**Grok 4 Code** : Provided shorter code and without entrypoint, with comments.\n\n### \n  \n  \n  Python Challenge 9 - Database Interaction\n\n**Challenge 9 Prompt:**\n\nConnect to an SQLite database, create a 'users' table, insert sample data, and query all users.\n\n**Challenge 9 GPT 5 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 9 Grok 4 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 9 Observations:**\n\n- \n**GPT 5 Speed** : Very fast response, near instant. Understood a script is needed, even though we just bluntly said \"connect...\" instead of \"write or create\".\n- \n**GPT 5 Code** : Provided long and elegant code with entrypoint, with comments.\n- \n**Grok 4 Speed** : Slower response, \"thought\" a bit longer (~16 seconds).\n- \n**Grok 4 Code** : Provided a bit shorter code and, for the first time, with an entrypoint and comments. Very interestingly, several function/test names mirror ChatGPT 5’s style.\n\n### \n  \n  \n  Python Challenge 10 - Unit Testing\n\n**Challenge 10 Prompt:**\n\nWrite a Python unittest that verifies a function 'is_prime(n)' correctly identifies prime numbers.\n\n**Challenge 10 GPT 5 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 10 Grok 4 Code:**\n\n**Challenge 10 Observations:**\n\n- \n**GPT 5 Speed** : very fast response, near instant.\n- \n**GPT 5 Code** : Provided long and elegant code with entrypoint, with comments.\n- \n**Grok 4 Speed** : Slower response, \"thought\" a bit longer (~12 seconds).\n- \n**Grok 4 Code** : Provided a bit shorter code and for the first time with entrypoint and comments. Very interestingly the function names are the as ChatGPT 5.\n\n## \n  \n  \n  Criteria for Evaluation\n\nWe will rate each AI on:\n\n- \n**Code Correctness** : Does it work without major edits?\n- \n**Readability** : Is the code clean and well-commented?\n- \n**Efficiency** : Does it use optimal methods?\n- \n**Error Handling** : Does it anticipate possible failures?\n- \n**Explainability** : Does it provide clear reasoning?\n\n## \n  \n  \n  Preliminary Observations\n\nFrom previous and current experience:\n\n- \n**ChatGPT 5** tends to give more verbose, well-documented code, much faster.\n- \n**Grok 4** prefers minimalism and slower responses and sometimes omits comments.\n\nBoth excel at standard tasks, but Grok may struggle with multi-step reasoning prompts.\n\n## \n  \n  \n  What stood out across the 10 challenges\n\n- \n**Prompt adherence** : GPT-5 stayed on-task (e.g., BTC API). Grok 4 occasionally drifted (Challenge 4).\n- \n**Entrypoints & structure** : GPT-5 consistently used entrypoints and helpers; Grok 4 often wrote single-file scripts without an entrypoint.\n- \n**Error handling** : GPT-5 added timeouts/raise_for_status/try-except more often; Grok 4 tended to be minimal.\n- \n**Dependencies & assumptions** : GPT-5 used stdlib where possible; Grok 4 leaned on pandas or simpler urllib defaults.\n- \n**Data model assumptions** : GPT-5 inferred fields and computed values (qty × price); Grok 4 assumed pre-aggregated columns.\n- \n**Algorithmic care** : Both solved the logic tasks; GPT-5's example had a minor variable bug, while Grok 4's HN example had syntax typos.\n- \n**Performance posture** : GPT-5 used streaming + thread pools for downloads; Grok 4 used raw threads + urlretrieve (simpler, less robust).\n\n## \n  \n  \n  Verdict\n\nWhile both tools can write functional Python code, the choice may come down to **developer preference**:\n\n- Choose **ChatGPT 5** if you value**detailed explanations** ,**step-by-step reasoning** ,**fast code generation** and**extensive comments** .\n- Choose **Grok 4** if you prefer**concise** ,**simple code** with minimal fluff and**slower code generation** .\n\nI honestly prefer **ChatGPT 5** because it responds much faster with better and detailed **Python** code. Sorry Elon Musk.\n\n**Related reading:** [Building AI Agents with Cloudflare Workers and LangChain](https://mecanik.dev/en/posts/cloudflare-workers-ai-agent/), [AI Software Development - A UK Business Guide for 2026](https://mecanik.dev/en/posts/ai-software-development-a-uk-business-guide-for-2026/), [Claude Opus 4.8 vs. OpenAI GPT-5: Which API is Best?](https://mecanik.dev/en/posts/claude-opus-4-8-vs-gpt-5-api/) and [Claude API vs OpenAI API: A Developer's Comparison 2026](https://mecanik.dev/en/posts/claude-api-vs-openai-api-for-developers/)., [A Fast, UTF-8 Aware C++ Tokenizer for NLP & ML](https://mecanik.dev/en/posts/a-fast-utf-8-aware-c-tokenizer-for-nlp-ml/), [Password Managers: Unlocking Online Security | Comprehensive Guide](https://mecanik.dev/en/posts/password-managers-unlocking-online-security-comprehensive-guide/)\n\n## \n  \n  \n  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)\n\n**Is OpenAI ChatGPT 5 or Grok 4 better for beginners?**\n\nChatGPT 5. It explains more, includes safer defaults (timeouts, error handling), and uses cleaner structure.\n\n**Which produced fewer code issues in these tests?**\n\nChatGPT 5 overall. Grok 4 had occasional prompt drift and minor syntax errors in scraping.\n\n**Which is faster?**\n\nIn your runs, ChatGPT 5 responded faster on average. Your timings are included per challenge.\n\n**Do I need to review the code they generate?**\n\nYes. Both models can make small mistakes; always run tests and add guardrails for I/O and network code.\n\n**Which handled files, images, and networking more robustly?**\n\nChatGPT 5. It tended to add entrypoints, timeouts, streaming, and better image resampling.\n\n**Does Grok 4 have advantages?**\n\nYes, snappier, concise scripts when you already know the context and want minimal output.\n\n**What prompt style worked best?**\n\nBe explicit about inputs/outputs, libraries, and edge cases (example: 'use requests with timeout, print JSON parse errors').\n\n**Can I rely on either model for production code?**\n\nUse them as accelerators, not replacements: keep tests, linting, and security reviews in your pipeline.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openai-chatgpt-5-vs-grok-4-which-one-creates-better-python-code", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/mecanik-dev/openai-chatgpt-5-vs-grok-4-which-one-creates-better-python-code-11jb", "published_at": "2026-09-19 06:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-19 06:24:40.441200+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products", "ai-tools", "large-language-models", "generative-ai", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["OpenAI", "ChatGPT 5", "Grok 4", "xAI", "Python"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openai-chatgpt-5-vs-grok-4-which-one-creates-better-python-code", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openai-chatgpt-5-vs-grok-4-which-one-creates-better-python-code.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openai-chatgpt-5-vs-grok-4-which-one-creates-better-python-code.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openai-chatgpt-5-vs-grok-4-which-one-creates-better-python-code.jsonld"}}