All comparisons / OpenAI Codex vs Cursor
Prices checked 2026-10-24OpenAI Codex vs Cursor: what they really cost
OpenAI Codex bills by: ChatGPT plan limits + credits, or API tokens. Cursor bills by: Weekly usage pool + API price. Here is the side-by-side, including where each one hurts.
Summary
| OpenAI Codex | Cursor | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | OpenAI's coding agent (web, CLI, IDE, app) | AI code editor (you work in real code) |
| Free tier | Quick coding tasks; GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app (subject to rollout) | Limited agent and chat requests |
| Entry paid plan | Go | Plus |
| Billed monthly | $8/mo | $8/mo |
| Billed yearly | unknown | unknown |
| Usage billed by | ChatGPT plan limits + credits, or API tokens | Weekly usage pool + API price |
| Team pricing | Per user: Business $20-25/user/mo | Per-user seats (Teams from $30/user/mo) |
| Backend | Whatever you code yourself | Whatever you code yourself |
| Best for | ChatGPT subscribers who want cloud and local coding tasks | People comfortable reading and editing code |
| Weakest spot | Usage is a wide range per 5-hour window (e.g. 15-160 messages on Plus for GPT-6.1 Sol), so capacity is hard to predict source ↗ | Claude, GPT and other third-party models are billed on top at API list price source ↗ |
Tier for tier
Individual plans lined up low vs low and high vs high by price. Seat-based team plans are on each tool's page.
| OpenAI Codex | Cursor | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Go: $8/mo Lightweight tasks, GPT-6 Luna | Plus: $8/mo 1× (basic pool, Grok models only) |
| Mid | Pro $100: $100/mo No 5-hour limit currently; weekly limits: unknown | Premium: $30/mo 4× Plus |
| Top | Pro $500: $500/mo Adds Ultrafast mode; limits vs $200: unknown | Ultra: $200/mo 50× Plus |
OpenAI Codex: what a credit buys
Subscription usage is counted per message and depends on model, task size, context and tool use; local messages and cloud tasks share the allowance. After the limit, ChatGPT credits keep you going (e.g. GPT-6.1 Sol: 50 credits per 1M input tokens, 250 per 1M output; a typical GPT-5.6 Sol task "may use 2-15 credits"). Fast mode uses 2x credits, Ultrafast 6x.
All OpenAI Codex plans →Cursor: what a credit buys
A shared usage pool (Cursor + Grok) that refreshes weekly. Third-party models (e.g. Claude, GPT) are billed separately at API list price. Exact pool size in dollars: unknown.
All Cursor plans →Which is cheaper for you?
It depends on how many prompts you send and how big the project gets. Plug in your app size and see both side by side, with every assumption shown.
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