Codex
OpenAI's cloud coding agent that works through tasks in its own sandbox.
Best when the task is specified well enough that you do not need to watch. Async is the whole point.
Wrong forExploratory work where you need to steer every few minutes.
- Best for
- Handing off a well-scoped task and walking away
- Pricing
- Included with ChatGPT Plus/Pro from $20/mo
Verified facts
- Free tier
- Limited access on the ChatGPT Free tier ($0), no cloud task delegation
- Entry paid plan
- $20/mo (ChatGPT Plus), the practical entry point for full Codex with cloud task delegation
- Bills in
- Token-based credit system (input/cached-input/output tokens) as of April 2026, replacing the old per-task model
Verified secondary · source: openai.com
Direct fetch of openai.com/chatgpt/pricing returned HTTP 403; confirmed via 2+ third-party trackers instead. 'Included with ChatGPT Plus/Pro from $20/mo' is accurate but incomplete: Codex also has limited access on Free ($0) and Go ($8/mo), both missing cloud task delegation, so Plus ($20/mo) remains the real practical entry point as the site copy implies. Billing changed in April 2026 from per-task to a token-based credit system; Pro split into Pro 5x ($100/mo) and Pro 20x ($200/mo). A separate uncapped pay-as-you-go path exists via an OpenAI API key at standard per-token rates. Exact usage-cap numbers and a claimed Business-tier PAYG discontinuation date rest on single sources, not independently corroborated.
Head to head
What it's actually used for
- Runs asynchronously in a sandbox and opens a pull request when done
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