The emergence of vibe coding hinges on the potential of platforms like GPT-5: that in the foreseeable future, programming knowledge won’t be necessary to “develop” software — you’ll merely need to articulate your software concepts in straightforward English. The AI will handle all the coding and debugging for you.

The primary objective: “software on demand,” or any form of app, website, or visualization that you can envision, any time you desire. But how far along are we? If you’re completely new to coding and prefer not to learn it yourself, can you anticipate producing something functional? I endeavored to explore several prominent consumer AI services to evaluate their performance. In summary, I’m seeking the finest vibe coding tools for novices, rather than more sophisticated tools like Cursor or Windsurf.

For these evaluations, I employed GPT-5, Claude 4.1 Opus, and Grok 4 (Expert).

My method for testing vibe coding

To gauge how effectively each distinct AI service executed coding tasks, I requested each one to develop a web-based game, a web-based productivity tool, and an iOS application.

Similar to my assessment of the top AI image creators, I utilized identical prompts to evaluate each model. Here are the vibe coding prompts I provided:

– Create a 2D browser game where players navigate a spaceship using the arrow keys and shoot lasers using the spacebar. Asteroids should spawn randomly and move across the screen. If a laser collides with an asteroid, it should explode and increase your score. If the spaceship hits an asteroid, the game concludes and displays the final score.

– Develop a web-based to-do application that allows me to add items to my list, view them in either a list format or on a calendar, and lets me include information such as a time frame for completion (not just a date). Also, incorporate a random quote generator that displays a different inspirational quote each time I press a button.

– Craft a complete iOS app for monitoring personal fitness objectives, enabling users to log their daily workouts and observe progress charts. The app should feature a home screen showcasing a list of logged workouts with details such as date, type, duration, and calories burned, with options to add new entries, modify or remove existing ones, and search or filter by date or workout type.

My prompts assess various types of software and services, along with differing categories of information. The AI will need to construct some type of physics framework for the game, for instance, and either find a pre-defined list of quotes or call an API for quotes in the productivity app.

I’m certainly no programming expert. I possess some fundamental web development knowledge and can navigate HTML and CSS files reasonably well, but my programming experience ends there. I won’t be able to evaluate the efficiency of the code produced by these services. I’m reviewing the final product based on how well these services adhered to my prompts.

I have included links to the game and webpages created by these vibe coding tools, but I won’t ask you to download the app. You’ll just have to rely on my word for it.

Vibe-coding a Web-based game

The game generated by Claude. Credit: Screenshot: Christian de Looper

Experience the outcomes:

– ChatGPT
– Claude
– Grok

All three services successfully generated a functioning web game, with slightly varying mechanics and additional features. ChatGPT and Grok produced a game that featured asteroids coming in from all directions and the ability to rotate the ship. Claude opted for a Space Invaders-style configuration, with asteroids only entering from the top of the screen, with the ship oriented towards the top.

Nonetheless, Claude’s design was the most visually appealing. It featured bright, retro colors, a starry background, and a striking movement trail behind the user. ChatGPT came in a close second; although there weren’t stars in the background or a sense of movement, I appreciated its minimalist approach that emphasized explosions. Grok’s game was the least visually appealing — and the least playable — with a dull design and asteroids that were merely gray circles.

The game produced by Grok 4. Credit: Screenshot: Christian de Looper

The game created by ChatGPT. Credit: Screenshot: Christian de Looper

Ultimately, I favored Claude’s game for its overall appearance, while ChatGPT excelled in functionality.

Winners: ChatGPT, Claude

Vibe-coding a Web-based app

The app generated by ChatGPT. Credit: Screenshot: Christian de Looper

View the results:

– ChatGPT
– Claude
– Grok

All three services managed to produce a productivity app that enabled users to view tasks on a calendar, and access inspirational quotes at the press of a button. The basic interface was also quite similar across all three services. They all opened