Claude Code vs Codex: pricing compared
Updated October 13, 2026
The prices line up almost exactly. Claude Code comes with Claude plans at $20, $100 and $200 a month. Codex comes with ChatGPT plans at $20, $100 and $200, plus a $500 tier. The real difference is how much work each plan holds, and neither company publishes that as a number.
- Entry plan with the coding agent
- $20/mo on both
- Top Claude plan
- $200/mo
- Top ChatGPT plan
- $500/mo
Plan for plan
| Monthly price | Claude (Claude Code) | ChatGPT (Codex) |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | Free: no Claude Code | Free: limited Codex, subject to rollout |
| $8 | No plan | Go: limited Codex, subject to rollout |
| $20 | Pro | Plus |
| $100 | Max 5x: 5x Pro's usage | Pro 100 |
| $200 | Max 20x: 20x Pro's usage | Pro 200: more usage than Pro 100 |
| $500 | No plan | Pro 500: the most usage, plus Ultrafast |
| Teams, per person | Team Standard: $25, or $20 yearly | Business: $25, or $20 yearly |
Claude Pro is also $17 a month if you pay $200 for a year. ChatGPT Pro is billed monthly only, like Claude Max.
How the limits work
Both use a five-hour window plus weekly limits. Claude Code shares its allowance with Claude chat; Codex shares its allowance with ChatGPT Work. The differences:
- ChatGPT Pro plans have no five-hour limit today. Weekly limits may still apply. Claude Max has both.
- OpenAI gives a rough range for Plus: 15-160 local messages every five hours on GPT-6.1 Sol, or 350-3,000 on the smaller GPT-6 Luna. Anthropic gives no message counts for Claude.
- Anthropic says how the Max plans compare with Pro (5x and 20x). OpenAI only says Pro 200 holds more than Pro 100, and Pro 500 holds the most.
When you run out, both let you keep going: usage credits on Claude, billed at API rates, and ChatGPT credits on Codex. OpenAI does not publish a dollar price per credit; it depends on your account.
Paying per token
Both tools also run on an API key, billed at API rates. The models people use most, per million tokens:
| Model | Input | Cached input | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opus 5.5 | $4 | $0.20 | $20 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $2 | $0.10 | $10 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | $2 | $0.10 | $10 |
Opus 5.5, Claude Code's default, costs twice as much per token as GPT-6.1 Sol. Sonnet 5.5 costs the same as Sol. Token prices do not tell you which plan holds more work, because the two tools send different amounts of context. Work out Claude token costs.
Which one costs less for you
At the same price, the plan that holds more of your work wins, and that depends on your projects. The fair test is a week on each entry plan: Claude Pro and ChatGPT Plus both cost $20. If you already use Claude Code, see which Claude plan fits your usage.
Common questions
- Is Codex cheaper than Claude Code?
- Not on price. Both start at $20 a month and both have $100 and $200 plans. ChatGPT also has a $500 plan. How much work each plan holds is not published.
- Is Codex free?
- ChatGPT Free and Go include limited Codex in the desktop app, subject to rollout. Claude Code is not on Claude's Free plan.
- How much does Codex cost per month?
- $20 on ChatGPT Plus, then $100, $200 or $500 on Pro. Business costs $25 a person a month, or $20 billed yearly, for 2 or more people.
- Can I use both?
- Yes. They are separate subscriptions from separate companies. Some developers keep one for daily work and try the other on specific tasks.