also searched as: is codex free · codex free · is chatgpt codex free · codex free tier · is codex free with chatgpt plus · is openai codex free · codex free plan
ChatGPT Free includes Codex, but only in the desktop app, on the smallest model, with no published limit. The agent most people mean, in the terminal and the editor on the stronger model, starts with ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month. Codex is never billed on its own.
Stay on Free if you want to see what a coding agent does to a small project and can live with it stopping without warning.
Pay for Plus if you want Codex in your terminal or editor, on GPT-6.1 Sol, for a few real sessions a week.
Skip it if you cannot read a diff yet: an agent editing files you do not understand costs more to clean up than it saves, on any plan.
prices checked 2026-10-05 · by dan scutaru
| plan | price | what matters |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | GPT-6 Luna, Standard speed, desktop app only, subject to rollout. No published limit. |
| Go | $8/mo | Same Codex line as Free, word for word. |
| Plus | $20/mo | Web, CLI, IDE extension, iOS. GPT-6.1 Sol. Estimated 15 to 160 local messages per 5 hours. |
| Pro | $100, $200 or $500/mo | Currently no five-hour limit. Astra Ultrafast only at $500. |
| Business | $25/user/mo | $20 billed annually, 2 users minimum. |
| API key | pay per token | CLI, SDK and IDE extension. No cloud features. |
One line. OpenAI's pricing page gives the Free plan a single Codex bullet: GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the desktop app, subject to rollout. It describes the plan as a way to explore Codex on quick coding tasks.
It is a real free plan with no end date, and the smallest version of the product. The $8 Go plan carries the same bullet, word for word. If Codex is why you are upgrading, Go buys nothing Free does not have.
Yes, at no extra charge. Plus is where OpenAI lists Codex on the web, in the CLI, in the IDE extension and on iOS, with GPT-6.1 Sol and the cloud features. If you already pay $20 for ChatGPT, you already have the full agent.
It draws from the same allowance as ChatGPT Work, cloud chats and image generation, so a heavy afternoon in one leaves less for the other.
There is no number for Free or Go. OpenAI publishes estimates for Plus and Business only, as local messages per five hours: 5 to 45 on GPT-6 Astra, 15 to 160 on GPT-6.1 Sol, 350 to 3,000 on GPT-6 Luna. It says these are not fixed limits and that weekly limits may also apply.
Past the limit, Plus and Pro can buy credits. Anyone, Free included, can switch to an API key and pay standard API rates.
The software is, the model behind it is not. The CLI is open source under Apache-2.0 and installs with one command. To do anything it needs a model: a ChatGPT plan, which OpenAI lists for the CLI from Plus, or an API key billed per token.
It also accepts other model providers through a compatible endpoint, so the only fully free route is a model you run yourself.
Not free, but there is a credit. OpenAI gives verified students at degree-granting universities in the US and Canada $100 in ChatGPT credits to use in Codex, one per student, on any ChatGPT plan including Free. The credits expire 12 months after they are granted. Claim it at chatgpt.com/codex/offers/students.
The pricing page lists none. The Free plan is the trial: no end date, Luna in the desktop app. To try the CLI or GPT-6.1 Sol you pay for a month of Plus.
No. Claude's Free plan does not include Claude Code, which starts with Pro at $20 a month. Codex is the only one of the two with any free tier.
If you would use the terminal or the editor extension every week, yes. If you only want to poke at it, Free shows you enough to decide.