# Codex pricing: what each ChatGPT plan includes, credits, and the API

There's no separate Codex subscription. What each ChatGPT plan gets, what happens past the limit, and when an API key is cheaper.

Published 2026-10-07 by Richard Kaminsky and Mitchell Lipyansky, the co-founders of Poly. Canonical: https://usepoly.co/codex-pricing
Poly is a multiplayer AI coding workspace: a shared room where your team works with one AI agent, together. Free to start: https://usepoly.co/

**Codex has no price of its own: it's included in every ChatGPT plan and shares each plan's usage allowance with ChatGPT Work. Free and Go ($8) get the small GPT-6 Luna model in the ChatGPT desktop app; Plus ($20) unlocks the CLI, the editor extension, cloud tasks and GPT-6.1 Sol with a five-hour limit; Pro ($100, $200 or $500) removes the five-hour limit; Business costs $20 to $25 a seat. Past the allowance you can buy credits, which work out to $0.04 each (2,500 credits equal $100), or run Codex on an API key at OpenAI's token prices, from $0.10 per million input tokens for GPT-6 Luna to $10 for GPT-6 Astra.**

## Key takeaways

- **Free and Go:** GPT-6 Luna, desktop app only, with limits OpenAI doesn't publish.
- **Plus, $20:** 15 to 160 local messages per five hours with GPT-6.1 Sol, and weekly limits may apply.
- **Pro, $100 to $500:** no five-hour limit; Pro 500 has 25 times Plus's allowance and Ultrafast.
- **Credits:** pay for usage past the allowance at API-equal rates; they last 12 months.
- **Students:** $100 in Codex credits in the US and Canada; OpenAI's own average for a developer is $100 to $200 a month.

*Codex by ChatGPT plan, from OpenAI's pricing and help pages, October 7, 2026.*

| Plan | Price | Codex models | Limits |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | GPT-6 Luna, desktop app | Not published |
| Go | $8 a month | GPT-6 Luna, desktop app | Not published |
| Plus | $20 a month | All, including GPT-6.1 Sol | Five-hour and weekly |
| Pro | $100, $200 or $500 | All; Ultrafast on Pro 500 | No five-hour limit |
| Business | $20 to $25 a seat | All | Standard like Plus; premium 5x, no five-hour |
| Enterprise and Edu | Contract | All | Credit pool or usage-based |
| API key | Per token | Your key's models | Your API limits; no cloud tasks |

## How much does Codex cost?

Codex comes with ChatGPT; the plan decides how much you get ([OpenAI](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/pricing)):

- **Free ($0) and Go ($8):** Codex with GPT-6 Luna in the ChatGPT desktop app.
- **Plus ($20 a month):** the CLI, the VS Code and Cursor extension, cloud tasks, GitHub reviews and GPT-6.1 Sol. OpenAI pitches it as enough to "power a few focused coding sessions each week."
- **Pro ($100, $200 or $500):** "Pro plans currently have no five-hour limit"; Pro 500 adds Astra Ultrafast.
- **Business:** $20 a seat billed annually or $25 monthly; premium seats ($100 to $125) get five times the usage and no five-hour limit.
- **Enterprise and Edu:** sold through OpenAI, with either a shared credit pool or seat fees plus usage at API rates.

Codex and ChatGPT Work draw on the same allowance. GPT-5.5 retires from Codex on October 14, 2026.

## What are Codex's usage limits?

OpenAI's estimates of local messages per five hours on Plus and Business standard seats:

- **GPT-6 Astra:** 5 to 45.
- **GPT-6.1 Sol:** 15 to 160.
- **GPT-6 Sol:** 15 to 150.
- **GPT-6 Luna:** 350 to 3,000.

"Weekly limits may also apply," and cloud tasks may use more than local messages. Fast mode uses the allowance 2.5 times as fast, and Astra Ultrafast eight times. The plan-by-plan comparison is in [ChatGPT Plus vs Pro](/chatgpt-plus-vs-pro).

## How much do Codex credits cost?

Credits pay for Codex and ChatGPT Work beyond your allowance. Each is worth about $0.04: OpenAI's student offer gives "2,500 credits, which is equivalent to $100," and every model's credit rate is 25 times its dollar rate ([OpenAI](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11481834)). GPT-6 Astra, for example, is 250 credits per million input tokens and 1,250 per million output, the same as $10 and $50.

- **Plus and Pro:** buy them in Settings, Usage, with optional auto-reload and a monthly cap.
- **Business:** workspace owners buy a shared pool and set limits per seat type.
- **Terms:** valid 12 months, non-refundable.

Plus and Pro accounts can also pay to reset their limits early; it brings next week's allowance forward rather than adding to it. OpenAI's planning figure for teams: "On average, Codex costs approximately $100–$200 per developer per month."

## How much does Codex cost on the API?

Sign in with `codex login --with-api-key` and you pay OpenAI's API prices per million tokens ([OpenAI](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing)):

- **GPT-6 Astra:** $10 input, $1 cached, $50 output.
- **GPT-6.1 Sol:** $2 input, $0.10 cached, $10 output.
- **GPT-6 Luna:** $0.10 input, $0.01 cached, $0.50 output.
- **GPT-5.3-Codex:** $1.75 input, $14 output.

Input above 272,000 tokens costs double. With an API key you lose cloud tasks, GitHub code review and `@codex`, Slack and Linear integrations, connectors and phone remote control ([OpenAI](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/pricing)). For steady daily use a plan is usually cheaper; an API key suits occasional or automated runs.

## Is Codex free for students?

Verified university students in the US and Canada get **$100 in Codex credits** (2,500 credits) on any plan, Free included, valid for 12 months ([OpenAI](https://chatgpt.com/codex/students)). Separately, US college students can claim four months of ChatGPT Plus free until October 31, 2026. More in [Is Codex free?](/is-codex-free).

## How much does Codex code review cost?

Comment `@codex review` on a GitHub pull request, or turn on automatic reviews. Reviews run on GPT-5.3-Codex and are charged by tokens, at $1.75 per million input tokens and $14 output on usage billing; on Plus and Pro they use your included allowance first. OpenAI publishes no per-review figure. Code review needs a ChatGPT sign-in, not an API key. How it compares with other reviewers is in [AI code review tools](/ai-code-review-tools).

## Codex vs Claude Code pricing

- **Entry:** both $20 (Claude Pro is $17 billed annually); Codex also has a limited free tier and Go at $8 ([Claude Code pricing](/claude-code-pricing)).
- **Heavy use:** Claude Max $100 or $200; ChatGPT Pro $100, $200 or $500.
- **Past the limit:** both sell usage at API rates, Anthropic as usage credits and OpenAI as credits.
- **Teams:** Claude Team premium seats $100 to $125; ChatGPT Business premium seats the same.

The full comparison is in [Claude Code vs Codex](/claude-code-vs-codex).

## One Codex agent for a whole team

Codex usage belongs to each person's ChatGPT account. Poly (usepoly.co) runs Codex and Claude Code in a shared browser room where a team works with one agent: everyone sees each step live, and any member can approve a change before it happens. Free to start. [What is Poly?](/what-is-poly)

## Common questions

**How much does Codex cost?**

Codex is included in ChatGPT plans: Free and Go get GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app, Plus at $20 unlocks the CLI, editor, cloud and GPT-6.1 Sol, and Pro at $100 to $500 removes the five-hour limit. Business is $20 to $25 a seat.

**How much are Codex credits?**

About $0.04 each: OpenAI's student offer equates 2,500 credits with $100, and each model's credit rate is 25 times its dollar price. Credits cover usage past your plan's allowance and last 12 months.

**Can I use Codex with an API key?**

Yes. Run codex login --with-api-key and you pay OpenAI's token prices, such as $2 input and $10 output per million tokens for GPT-6.1 Sol. Cloud tasks, GitHub reviews and integrations need a ChatGPT sign-in.

**Is Codex cheaper than Claude Code?**

At entry level they match at $20 a month, though Codex also has a limited free tier and an $8 Go plan. Heavy users pay $100 to $200 on either; ChatGPT Pro also has a $500 tier.

**Do students get Codex for free?**

Verified university students in the US and Canada get $100 in Codex credits on any ChatGPT plan, valid for 12 months. US college students can also claim four months of ChatGPT Plus free until October 31, 2026.

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