Guides
Claude Code vs Codex Pricing: Which Costs Less in 2026?
Codex costs less to start. On November 6, 2026 it is included on ChatGPT Free and on Go at $8 a month, and Claude Code starts on Pro at $20 a month, or $17 a month on an annual bill. The $100 and $200 individual prices match, and Codex Pro also lists a $500 tier.
Key takeaways
- Codex is the lower cost to start. ChatGPT Free includes it at $0, and Go is $8 a month. Claude Code starts on Pro.
- The monthly stickers then match: $20 for Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus, $100 for Claude Max or Codex Pro, and $200 for Claude Ultra or Codex Pro. Claude Pro is $17 a month if you pay $200 up front. Codex Pro also has a $500 tier.
- Equal stickers are not equal coding time. Claude Code shares one usage pool with the rest of Claude. Codex shares its allowance with ChatGPT Work. Read the limit on the vendor page before you treat a price as a budget.
Updated November 6, 2026.
Which costs less, Claude Code or Codex?
Codex costs less to start. On the pages checked November 6, 2026, Codex is included with ChatGPT Free at $0 and with Go at $8 a month, and Claude Code starts on Pro at $20 a month, or $17 a month when you pay $200 up front for the year.
After that, the individual monthly prices line up. Claude Pro and ChatGPT Plus are both $20 a month. Claude Max and the first Codex Pro tier are both $100. Claude Ultra and the middle Codex Pro tier are both $200. Codex Pro also lists a $500 tier, and the Claude individual pages checked here do not. Those are list prices. They are not a count of how much code each plan will write.
Claude Code is Anthropic’s coding agent. Codex is OpenAI’s. Each one is an agent: a model plus the harness that runs tools, keeps a record, and stops. The longer account of that surrounding software is What is an AI agent harness?. Claude is the chat product on the same Anthropic plans. ChatGPT is the plan Codex rides on.
Prices below exclude tax where the vendor says so. Anthropic says its prices can change. OpenAI’s pages describe the current cards and send you to a usage dashboard for the live limit. Use the vendor page for a number you intend to pay.
What does each $20 plan buy?
The $20 comparison is the one most people mean. The two products share a sticker and then diverge on what sits inside it.
| At $20 a month | Claude Pro | ChatGPT Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Where the price is printed | Claude pricing. Annual billing is $17 a month, $200 up front. Max and Ultra are monthly only. | Codex pricing docs. The ChatGPT pricing FAQ lists Go and Plus as monthly plans. |
| Coding agent | Claude Code is included. The pricing table says No on Free and Yes on Pro, Max, and Ultra. | Codex on the web, in the CLI, in the IDE extension, and on iOS. The docs call this enough for a few focused coding sessions a week. |
| What else is named for coding | The same subscription covers Claude on the web, desktop, and mobile. Terminal, IDE, Slack, and the web are the steering surfaces on the product page. | Cloud integrations such as automatic code review and Slack. GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna. Credits if you want to go past the included allowance. |
| How the limit works | One pool for Claude and Claude Code. Pro has a five-hour session limit and a weekly limit. Anthropic says there is no fixed message count. | Codex shares usage with ChatGPT Work. The docs print local-message estimates for a five-hour window, and say those estimates are not fixed limits. Weekly limits may also apply. |
Anthropic’s pricing FAQ says Pro gives you at least five times the Free plan’s usage per five-hour session. The Codex docs, for Plus and for Standard Business, print these local-message ranges per five hours: GPT-6 Astra 5–45, GPT-6.1 Sol 15–160, GPT-6.1 Terra 35–285, GPT-6 Sol 15–150, and GPT-6 Luna 350–3,000. The same page says cloud tasks can use more of the allowance than local messages, and that Pro plans currently have no five-hour limit. A range that wide is a reason to read your own dashboard, not a promise of 160 Sol messages.
What are the individual prices?
| Plan | Price on November 6, 2026 | Coding agent on that plan |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Free | $0 | Claude Code is not included. The feature table says No. |
| Claude Pro | $20 a month, or $17 a month with annual billing ($200 up front) | Included. Shared with the rest of Claude. Five-hour and weekly limits. |
| Claude Max | $100 a month, billed monthly. The help center says this is the web price and that mobile prices can differ. | Included. 5 times Pro usage every five hours and every week. $100 a month in API credits on the Claude Platform. Fable, for up to half the weekly limit. |
| Claude Ultra | $200 a month, billed monthly. Web price; mobile prices can differ. The help center says the old Max 20x plan was renamed Ultra, with no price change. | Included. 10 times Pro usage every week. Verified accounts have no five-hour limit. $200 a month in API credits. Fable, for up to half the weekly limit. |
| ChatGPT Free | $0 | Codex for quick tasks. The help center includes Free, and says Codex Cloud is not included. The docs name GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the desktop app, subject to rollout. |
| ChatGPT Go | $8 a month | Codex for lightweight tasks. Codex Cloud is not included. Same Luna note as Free, subject to rollout. |
| ChatGPT Plus | $20 a month | Codex on web, CLI, IDE, and iOS, plus the cloud integrations named above. Eligible for Codex Cloud, subject to rollout and settings. |
| ChatGPT Pro | $100, $200, or $500 a month. The card says “from $100.” | Everything in Plus, on the docs page. Ultrafast mode is on the $500 plan. The docs say Pro has no five-hour limit. The Codex pricing page says GPT-6 Astra sits inside the allowance on the $100 and $200 Pro plans. |
| API key | API token rates, not a monthly sticker | Codex in the CLI, SDK, or IDE extension. The docs say this path has no cloud features such as GitHub code review and Slack. |
Claude Code’s product page says you can sign in with Pro, Max, Ultra, Team, Enterprise, or a Claude Console account. With Console, use is billed at standard API rates. The same FAQ prices a research-preview fast mode for Opus 5.5 at $8 per million input tokens and $40 per million output tokens, on consumption-based plans and, through usage credits, on subscription plans. That rate is an extra speed setting. It is not the Pro price.
The Codex pricing page’s FAQ, checked the same day, also mentions a $100 Business plan: it says GPT-6 Astra is included in the allowance on the $100 and $200 Pro plans and the $100 Business plan, and that Plus and the $20 Business plan include limited GPT-6 Astra, with credits if you need more. The plan cards on the Codex docs page print Business at $20 per user per month when billed annually. This guide does not merge those two sentences into a third Business sticker.
What does a team seat cost?
| Seat | Price | What the coding agent includes |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Team, standard | $20 per member per month billed annually, or $25 billed monthly. Minimum two members, up to 150. US prices, tax excluded. The product page prints the $20 annual figure and “up to $500 per month in pooled API credits.” | Claude Code on every seat. The help center says a standard seat includes 1.25 times the Pro plan’s per-session allowance, plus a weekly limit. Limits are per member. Monthly API credits on Team plans cannot be used in Claude Code or the Claude apps. |
| Claude Team, premium | $100 per member per month billed annually, or $125 billed monthly | Claude Code, with 6.25 times the Pro plan’s per-session allowance and a weekly limit, on the help center page. The pricing page says premium seats give 5 times more usage than standard seats. Both sentences are on Anthropic’s pages. This guide does not merge them into one formula. |
| Claude Enterprise | The pricing FAQ says $20 per seat per month plus usage at API rates, billed annually. The product card lists security, analytics, role-based access, spend limits, and data controls, and it does not repeat the dollar figure. | Included on new and self-serve Enterprise seats. The help center says usage-based Enterprise, including self-serve, has no per-seat usage limit and is billed at API rates. Older Enterprise plans can still split seats. |
| ChatGPT Business | $20 per user per month for two or more users, billed annually. $25 per user per month billed monthly. | ChatGPT and Codex on desktop and mobile. Larger virtual machines for cloud chats. Credits to extend usage. SAML SSO and MFA. No training on business data by default, on the docs page. |
| ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu | Contact sales. The docs card does not print a dollar price. | Everything in Business, plus priority processing, SCIM, retention and residency controls, audit logs, and the Compliance API, as that card lists them. Flexible-pricing workspaces scale with credits and have no fixed rate limit, on the docs page. |
A team that only compares the $20 annual seat is looking at the same sticker. The allowance is still the part that moves the bill. Claude Team standard is a multiple of Pro, per person. ChatGPT Business, on the docs page, shares the Plus local-message estimates in the “Standard Business” column. Extra Claude Code on a Team plan, past the included limit, uses usage credits. The monthly API credits that come with the Team plan are a different purse, and Anthropic says that purse does not pay for Claude Code.
Where does the cheaper plan stop being cheaper?
Use the row that matches the job, then open the linked page before you subscribe.
| If you want | Lower list price on November 6, 2026 | What you give up at that price |
|---|---|---|
| To try a coding agent | Codex on ChatGPT Free, $0 | Claude Code is not on Free. Codex Cloud is not on Free. The docs describe quick tasks, not a full workday. |
| A small paid plan | Codex on Go, $8 a month | Still no Codex Cloud. Claude has no published plan between Free and Pro on the pricing page checked here. |
| The usual individual plan | Claude Pro at $17 a month if you pay annually. Month to month, both are $20. | Annual Pro is a year up front. Plus stays a monthly plan in the ChatGPT pricing FAQ. |
| A heavier individual plan | The $100 and $200 stickers match: Max or Ultra, and Pro at $100 or $200. | The multiples differ. Max is 5 times Pro on a five-hour and a weekly window. The Codex docs say Pro has no five-hour limit. Ultrafast is the $500 Codex tier. |
| A team, billed annually | Both entry seats are $20 per person, for two or more people. | Claude premium seats jump to $100 annually. A Codex FAQ line also names a $100 Business plan for fuller GPT-6 Astra access. Enterprise on both sides needs the sales or FAQ page, not this sticker. |
Two billing paths sit beside the stickers. A Claude Console account, and extra usage credits on a paid Claude plan, bill tokens at API rates. An OpenAI API key bills Codex the same way and drops the cloud integrations. The help center says standard Codex Cloud environments had no separate virtual-machine charge at launch, and that model usage still counts against the plan or the credits. Auto-review safety checks, when you are signed in with ChatGPT, are free and do not count toward the allowance.
The software that spends those tokens is the harness. A $20 plan with a tight loop and a $20 plan with a long cloud task are different bills even when the sticker matches. What is an AI agent harness? is the page for that split. The directory rows for Claude Code and Codex keep the short product notes.
What should you check before you pay?
- Pick the surface first. Claude Code’s product page lists the terminal, the web, iOS, Android, GitHub, VS Code, JetBrains, and Slack, and it says the VS Code extension also covers Cursor and Devin Desktop. Codex’s docs list the CLI, the IDE, the desktop app, the web, and cloud tasks on the plans that include cloud.
- Read the pool, not only the price. Claude Code and Claude chat draw from one pool. Codex, ChatGPT Work, and the other agent features named on the help page draw from a shared allowance when your plan uses one.
- Treat message ranges as estimates. Anthropic says the mix of length, model, and features means there is no fixed message count. OpenAI says similar tasks can consume different amounts, and prompt length alone is a poor estimate.
- Keep a receipt path for overage. Usage credits, a Console account, or an API key are how either product continues after the included allowance. Team monthly API credits are not that path for Claude Code.
Frequently asked questions
Which costs less, Claude Code or Codex?
Codex costs less to start. Free ChatGPT includes it, and Go is $8 a month. Claude Code starts at Pro, $20 a month or $17 a month on an annual bill. The $100 and $200 individual prices match. Codex Pro also lists $500.
Is Claude Code on the free plan?
The Claude pricing table marks Claude Code unavailable on Free and available on Pro, Max, and Ultra. Paid plans include it, and the product page adds Team, Enterprise, and Console.
Does free ChatGPT include Codex?
Yes. The Codex docs list Free at $0, and the help center includes Free and Go. Codex Cloud is not included on those two plans.
What does the $20 plan include for a coding agent?
Claude Pro includes Claude Code in the same pool as the rest of Claude, with a five-hour limit and a weekly limit. ChatGPT Plus includes Codex on the web, in the CLI, in the IDE, and on iOS, plus cloud code review and Slack. Neither page promises a fixed number of tasks.
Do Claude Max and Codex Pro cost the same?
At $100 and $200, yes. Codex Pro also offers $500, which is the tier with Ultrafast mode. Max is 5 times Pro usage on both the five-hour window and the week. The Codex docs say Pro plans have no five-hour limit.
How much is a team seat?
Claude Team standard and ChatGPT Business are both $20 per person per month when billed annually, and both are $25 when billed monthly, for at least two people. Claude premium seats are $100 annually or $125 monthly. Claude Enterprise, in the pricing FAQ, is $20 per seat per month plus API-rate usage, billed annually.
Can I pay API rates instead of a subscription?
Yes. Console bills Claude Code at standard API rates. An OpenAI API key bills Codex at API rates in the CLI, SDK, or IDE, without the cloud integrations. Paid subscriptions can also buy credits after the included allowance runs out.
Sources
- 1Anthropic, Plans and pricing (checked November 6, 2026)
- 2Anthropic, Claude Code product page (checked November 6, 2026)
- 3Anthropic Help Center, What is the Team plan? (checked November 6, 2026)
- 4Anthropic Help Center, Use Claude Code with your Pro, Max, or Ultra plan (checked November 6, 2026)
- 5Anthropic Help Center, What is the Max plan? (checked November 6, 2026)
- 6Anthropic Help Center, What is the Ultra plan? (checked November 6, 2026)
- 7Anthropic Help Center, Use Claude Code with your Team or Enterprise plan (checked November 6, 2026)
- 8OpenAI, Codex pricing in ChatGPT Learn (checked November 6, 2026)
- 9OpenAI, Codex pricing (checked November 6, 2026)
- 10OpenAI Help Center, Using Codex with your ChatGPT plan (checked November 6, 2026)