Flea does stuff outside of the Chili Peppers and I’d say, yes, he’s better than Les Claypool
I guess really it depends on how you classify things and what you’re weighting the opinion on.
I personally think someone like Tim Henson is talented, but makes what I call musical gibberish, stuff that’s wildly technically impressive but sounds like math music from an AI chat bot. I value the ability to do more with less, over ‘notes per minute’ or ‘pinch harmonics per minute’
So I’m valuing the overall digestibility of the music created and not necessarily the raw finger on fret talent. I think Flea is a better musician overall.
Opinions are subjective so this isn’t a ‘debate me because I know I’m right’ type of post, everyone is entitled to their opinions.
I think Flea is the greatest bass player of all time and I’d argue that Chad Smith is one of the best drummers of all time, but they make music for a band lead by a douche bag.