Devin (Cognition) runs for hours unsupervised inside its own cloud VM. Claude Code (Anthropic) runs for minutes unsupervised inside your terminal. Both ship. The question is when the extra autonomy — and the extra premium — is worth it.
| Attribute | Devin | Claude Code |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Cognition | Anthropic |
| Surface | Cloud VM, Slack/Linear UI | Terminal CLI |
| Time horizon | Hours, fully unsupervised | Minutes, interactive loops |
| Substrate | Own VM with editor + browser | Your shell, your repo |
| SWE-Bench Verified | ~51.5% (Devin v1.5) | 80.9% (Opus 4.5) / 87.6% (Opus 4.7) |
| Devin Deep tier | ~63% (multi-hour reasoning) | — |
| Cost per resolve | ~$11–22 | $0.35–6.20 |
| Boot latency | VM spin-up (~30–60s) | Local — instant |
| Best for | Overnight tickets, async workflows | Inline work, multi-file refactors |
Where each tool sits on the continuum from Tab completion to full ticket-in / PR-out.
Autonomy spectrum
Different substrates, different time horizons.
Architecture
Runs hours, its own VM, its own browser
Architecture
Runs minutes, your shell
Log-scale USD per SWE-Bench Verified resolve. Devin's autonomy premium is 2-3x Claude Code + Opus 4.5.
The money visual
X: $ per resolved issue (log scale). Y: Verified %. Pink line = Pareto frontier.
Devin numbers from Cognition's 2025-2026 blog posts; Claude Code numbers from Anthropic leaderboard runs. Devin Deep is the multi-hour reasoning tier.
Radar
Devin SWE-Bench Verified scores are taken from Cognition's 2025-2026 release blog posts (v1.2, v1.5, and Devin Deep). Claude Code numbers are from Anthropic's public leaderboard runs and our SWE-Bench hub.
Cost per resolve assumes a single full SWE-Bench Verified run divided by the resolved count. Devin Deep's 22 USD reflects the multi-hour reasoning tier; the v1.5 baseline reflects the standard tier.
The autonomy spectrum is editorial — derived from observed time horizons and supervision needs across each tool, not a single benchmark.