Thus Spake Zaraholden/AlchemicalVsSolarCraft

On Alchemical Craft:

They're craft pimps because their patron is the Great Maker. But 'peer' doesn't mean 'identical.' Alchies can pull off some really amazing crafthax, but they have some limitations Solars don't. They never break the maintenance boundary for magitech. They never get away from resource-dependency. And they don't have the same capacity for forging inspiring world-changing wonders the Solars do.

Solars beat them in terms of being the Legendary Smith or The Only Scientist In The World Who Understands This Unique Superartifact—Because He Built It. Alchemicals excel in other areas, particularly mass production—they need less infrastructure and assistance to crank out a whole bunch of shock pikes (though it's worth noting that the probable cap on what kind of infrastructure sophistication they can manage is lower than where the Solars managed to get in the First Age).

And yes, many of the mechanics to express this differentiation aren't in play yet. Until recently, it hasn't been very hard to surpass a Solar as a craftsman, seeing as the only thing they had for the job was CNNT. The picture will become clearer as more of the Solar crafting suite appears soon.

Source: http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/forums/p/30148/621821.aspx#621821