Is OpenAI Codex free? Free vs Go vs Plus vs Pro in 2026
Partly. OpenAI includes Codex, its coding agent, in every ChatGPT plan, Free included. But on Free and the $8 Go plan, OpenAI's Codex pricing page lists one thing: GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the ChatGPT desktop app, subject to rollout. The CLI, IDE extension, Codex on the web, cloud tasks and GitHub code review start with Plus at $20/mo. Below: every plan and what it costs, how the five-hour usage limits work, credits, the student offer, the API-key route, and the free coding agents to try instead, all checked on OpenAI's own pricing pages, docs and help center on Oct 19, 2026.
Facts and prices checked Oct 19, 2026 · no paid placements
Short answer: Partly. Codex is included with ChatGPT Free ($0) and Go ($8/mo), but OpenAI's Codex pricing page lists only GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the ChatGPT desktop app on those plans, subject to rollout, and Codex cloud isn't included. ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo) is the first plan that lists Codex on the web, in the CLI, in the IDE extension and on iOS, with cloud tasks, automatic GitHub code review and GPT-6.1 Sol. Pro costs $100, $200 or $500/mo and currently has no five-hour limit. Business is $20/user/mo billed annually ($25 monthly), or $100 ($125 monthly) for Premium seats with 5x the usage. You can also run the open-source CLI or the IDE extension on an OpenAI API key and pay API rates.
OpenAI Codex plans (checked Oct 19, 2026)
| Plan | Price | Where you can use Codex | Limits and what's included |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Free | $0 | The ChatGPT desktop app, with GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed, subject to rollout | "Limited Codex access" (OpenAI doesn't publish a number). No Codex cloud, no image generation and no GPT-6.1 Sol. Credit purchases are open only to a limited group of Free and Go users. |
| ChatGPT Go | $8/mo | The ChatGPT desktop app, with GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed, subject to rollout | Codex is listed as "Limited", the same as Free. No Codex cloud and no GPT-6.1 Sol. OpenAI says Go may include ads in ChatGPT. |
| ChatGPT Plus | $20/mo | Codex on the web, in the CLI, in the IDE extension and on iOS, plus the desktop app and Codex cloud | GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna. OpenAI estimates 15–160 local messages per five hours on GPT-6.1 Sol and 350–3,000 on GPT-6 Luna; weekly limits may also apply. Automatic code review on GitHub and the Slack integration. Buy ChatGPT credits to keep going past the limit. |
| ChatGPT Pro | $100, $200 or $500/mo (billed monthly only) | Everything in Plus | More usage on each higher tier, and Pro plans currently have no five-hour limit. Ultrafast mode is only on Pro $500. New Pro 200 subscriptions get a lower usage allowance than before; grandfathered subscribers keep the old allowance through Oct 29, 2026. |
| ChatGPT Business | Standard seat $20/user/mo billed annually ($25 monthly); Premium seat $100/user/mo billed annually ($125 monthly) | All ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work and Codex features, on desktop, web and mobile | 2 to 200 users, and you can mix seat types. Standard seats have the same five-hour estimates as Plus; Premium seats get 5x the usage of Standard with no five-hour limit. Larger cloud machines, SAML SSO and MFA, and no training on your business data by default. Workspaces on flexible pricing can buy more credits. |
| Enterprise and Edu | Custom pricing (contact sales) | Everything in Business | Priority request processing, SCIM, EKM, role-based access control, audit logs through the Compliance API, and data retention and residency controls. With flexible pricing there are no fixed rate limits and usage scales with credits; without it, seats get Plus-level limits for most features. |
| API key | Pay per token at OpenAI API rates | The Codex CLI, SDK and IDE extension (local work only) | No cloud features: no Codex cloud, GitHub code review or Slack. The models you can use are the ones your API key has access to. OpenAI pitches it for automation in shared environments such as CI. |
Prices in USD. The message ranges are OpenAI's estimates for Plus and Standard Business seats, not fixed limits; your usage dashboard (or /status in the CLI) shows your real limits and reset times. Codex and ChatGPT Work share one usage allowance. Fast mode uses included usage 2.5x faster than Standard. GPT-5.5 was retired from Codex for ChatGPT sign-ins on Oct 14, 2026; API-key sessions weren't affected.
What Codex on ChatGPT Free and Go gets you
OpenAI's help center says Codex is included across ChatGPT plans, including Free and Go, with usage limits that vary by plan. In practice, the Codex pricing page lists a single line for both Free ($0) and Go ($8/mo): GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the ChatGPT desktop app, subject to rollout. So you may not see it yet, and the plan only covers Luna, OpenAI's model for clear, repeatable tasks, not GPT-6.1 Sol, which launched for Plus and up. ChatGPT's own pricing table also lists limited access to GPT-5.6 Terra in Work and Codex on desktop for Free and Go. Codex cloud, which runs tasks on OpenAI's computers while your laptop sleeps, isn't included with Free or Go, and image generation in Codex isn't available on Free. The desktop app may ask you to add or verify a phone number. Your ChatGPT data controls apply to Codex too: OpenAI's help center says Plus and Pro conversations may be used to improve its models unless you turn training off, while Business, Enterprise, Edu and API data isn't used for training by default.
How Codex usage limits work
On Plus and Standard Business seats, Codex usage runs in five-hour windows, and weekly limits may also apply. OpenAI's estimates for local messages per five hours: 5–45 on GPT-6 Astra, 15–160 on GPT-6.1 Sol, 15–150 on GPT-6 Sol, and 350–3,000 on GPT-6 Luna. Those are ranges, not quotas. Bigger repos, long sessions, more context, reasoning and tools all use more, and cloud tasks can use more than local messages. Pro plans currently have no five-hour limit, and Premium Business seats get 5x Standard usage with no five-hour limit. Fast mode uses your included usage at 2.5x the Standard rate, and image generation uses it about 3–5x faster. If you hit a limit mid-task, Codex can finish the turn it's working on. After that you can buy credits (Plus and Pro), upgrade, wait for the reset, or run extra local chats on an API key at standard API rates. OpenAI support can't reset your limits. Check the usage dashboard, or type /status in the CLI.
Credits: paying past the limit
Credits are OpenAI's pay-as-you-go add-on for Codex, ChatGPT Work and the Word, Excel and PowerPoint add-ins. Your plan's included usage goes first, then usage draws from your credit balance. Plus and Pro users who hit a Codex limit see an option to add credits, and can turn on automatic reload with a monthly spending cap. On Free and Go, credit purchases are open only to a limited group of users. Credits are valid for 12 months from purchase, aren't refundable except in limited cases, and aren't API credits. Codex bills them per million tokens: GPT-6.1 Sol uses 50 credits per 1M input tokens and 250 per 1M output tokens, and GPT-6 Luna 2.5 and 12.5. Purchase prices depend on your plan and region; OpenAI's student offer values 2,500 credits at $100.
Free Codex credits for students, and referrals
Verified university students in the US and Canada can claim $100 in Codex credits (2,500 credits). You verify your student status through SheerID with your university email, then the credits land in your personal ChatGPT account, on Free, Go, Plus or Pro. They extend Codex past your plan's included limits, expire 12 months after the grant, and are limited to one offer per student. Separately, eligible users can invite friends or coworkers to Codex from the app's profile menu. Rewards vary by offer; for some Plus and Pro promotions, a successful referral adds a banked reset that refreshes your five-hour and weekly Codex windows.
Which Pro tier, and what changed with Pro 200
Pro comes in three monthly tiers: Pro 100 ($100), Pro 200 ($200) and Pro 500 ($500). Each step up includes more usage, and only Pro 500 includes Ultrafast mode, which uses included usage at 8x the Standard rate and credits at 6x. Buying credits on Pro 100 or Pro 200 doesn't unlock Ultrafast. Pro 200 is open to new subscribers again, but new subscriptions get a lower usage allowance than Pro 200 used to include, at the same $200/mo. If you had an active Pro 200 subscription at any point from Sep 22 through 10 a.m. Pacific on Sep 29, 2026, you keep the previous allowance through Oct 29, 2026, then move to the lower one. Pro is billed monthly only; there's no annual plan.
Prices like these change every week.
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Subscription or API key?
Codex supports two sign-ins: your ChatGPT account, which uses your plan's included usage, or an OpenAI API key, which bills each token at API rates. The desktop app, CLI and IDE extension accept both for local work, but Codex cloud, GitHub code review and the Slack and Linear integrations need a ChatGPT sign-in. An API key makes sense for scripts and CI, or as overflow when your plan runs out. OpenAI warns that API token prices are separate from subscription usage, so don't use them to estimate how many tasks a plan includes. The Codex CLI itself is open source (Apache-2.0, about 130,000 GitHub stars) and installs with npm, Homebrew or OpenAI's install script. The IDE extension works in VS Code, Cursor and Windsurf, and Xcode and JetBrains IDEs have their own Codex integrations.
Free alternatives to OpenAI Codex, compared
- 01
GitHub CopilotGitHub Copilot Free ($0): 2,000 code completions a month plus limited chat and agent usage, including agent mode and Copilot CLI, on auto model selection only. Verified students get Copilot Student for free. Copilot Pro ($10/mo) lists access to third-party agents, Claude Code and Codex among them, so Pro is also a cheap way to run Codex inside GitHub.
- 02
Google AntigravityGoogle Antigravity Individual ($0): an IDE, app and CLI with a range of agent models, unlimited Tab completions and command requests, and basic weekly rate limits. Antigravity CLI replaced Gemini CLI for unpaid users on Jun 18, 2026, so it's Google's free terminal agent. Google AI Pro ($19.99/mo in the US) raises the limits.
- 03
CursorCursor Free ($0): Agent, Chat and Tab completions with limited usage on Cursor's own models (Grok and Composer). Plus ($8/mo) is Grok models only; GPT and Claude models need Premium ($30/mo) and bill at API list price.
- 04
Windsurf (Devin Desktop)Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) Free ($0): unlimited Tab completions and inline edits plus a light agent quota on a limited set of models. Pro is $20/mo, the same as ChatGPT Plus.
- 05
ClineCline: free and open source (Apache-2.0) for individual developers, in VS Code, the terminal or a desktop app. You pay only for inference: bring your own key (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, OpenRouter and more), pay Cline at cost, or run local models. Point it at an OpenAI key and you get GPT models without a ChatGPT plan.
- 06
ZedZed Personal ($0): a fast, open-source editor with unlimited use when you bring your own API keys or run external agents, Codex CLI included. Zed Pro ($10/mo, 14-day free trial) adds Zed-hosted models, unlimited edit predictions and $5 of tokens.
Codex vs Claude Code on price
Both start at $20/mo for the full agent: ChatGPT Plus for Codex, Claude Pro ($17/mo billed annually) for Claude Code. The difference is at the bottom. Codex has a $0 and an $8 tier with GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app, while Claude Code isn't included on Claude's Free plan at all. At the top, ChatGPT Pro is $100, $200 or $500/mo, against Claude Max at $100 or $200/mo. Both also run on an API key at API rates. See our Codex vs Claude Code comparison for how they work day to day.
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenAI Codex free?
Partly. Codex is included with ChatGPT Free ($0) and Go ($8/mo), but on those plans OpenAI lists only GPT-6 Luna in the ChatGPT desktop app, subject to rollout, with no Codex cloud. The CLI, IDE extension, Codex on the web and cloud tasks start with ChatGPT Plus at $20/mo.
Can I use the Codex CLI for free?
The CLI is free to install and open source (Apache-2.0), but you need a way to pay for the model. OpenAI's Codex pricing page lists the CLI from ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo) up. Or sign in with an OpenAI API key and pay per token at API rates, with no cloud features.
What are Codex's usage limits?
On Plus and Standard Business seats, OpenAI estimates 15–160 local messages per five hours on GPT-6.1 Sol and 350–3,000 on GPT-6 Luna, and weekly limits may also apply. Pro plans currently have no five-hour limit, and Premium Business seats get 5x Standard usage with no five-hour limit. Check your usage dashboard, or /status in the CLI, for your real limits.
What happens when I run out of Codex usage?
Codex finishes the turn it's working on. After that you can wait for the reset, upgrade, buy ChatGPT credits on Plus or Pro (valid 12 months), or run extra local chats on an API key at API rates. OpenAI support can't reset limits.
How much does Codex cost for a team?
ChatGPT Business Standard seats are $20/user/mo billed annually or $25 monthly, and Premium seats are $100 billed annually or $125 monthly, with 5x the usage and no five-hour limit. Business is for 2 to 200 users, and you can mix seat types. Enterprise and Edu have custom pricing.
Is there a free Codex trial or student discount?
There's no free trial of Plus listed on OpenAI's Codex pricing page. Verified university students in the US and Canada can claim $100 in Codex credits (2,500 credits) through SheerID, usable on Free, Go, Plus or Pro and valid for 12 months.
What's the best free alternative to Codex?
GitHub Copilot Free (2,000 completions a month plus limited agent use) if you live in VS Code or GitHub, Google Antigravity for a free agentic IDE and CLI, Cursor Free for an AI-first editor, or Cline and Zed if you'd rather bring your own API key and pay only for tokens.
Facts and prices checked on vendor pages on Oct 19, 2026: OpenAI Codex pricing, ChatGPT pricing (Individual and Business & Enterprise tabs), OpenAI help: Using Codex with your ChatGPT plan, OpenAI help: About ChatGPT Pro tiers, OpenAI help: Using credits (personal plans), OpenAI help: Codex credits for students, OpenAI help: ChatGPT rate card (Business, Enterprise/Edu), OpenAI help: Flexible pricing for Business, Enterprise and Edu, Codex docs: models, Codex docs: authentication, Codex docs: CLI, Codex docs: IDE extension, Codex CLI on GitHub, GitHub Copilot plans, GitHub Docs: Copilot plans, Google Antigravity pricing, Cursor pricing, Devin Desktop pricing, Cline, Zed pricing, Claude pricing. Plans and limits change often, so confirm before you buy.