If you want SOTA reasoning you should be using GPT 5.5 Pro.

This is fair, but i've found the different models to have different moods and require different interactions to get them to stick to just the specific edits i ask for, etc.

I used to surf the three big players frequently and got really tired of the effort needed to steer some models. In the end i ended up sticking with Claude because it required less steering effort. While not strictly reasoning, a models ability to follow clear directions consistently is something i'd consider part of its SOTA capabilities.

Eventually i just tired of exploring. I just want stability.

Which ironically is why i'm thinking about moving from Claude. The very basic IDE/-p usage getting removed from my plan is a UX stability issue. I'm trying to progressively improve my workflows and efficiency, not have to establish a new foundation anytime something shifts. Quite frustrating.

Codex has only GPT 5.5