OpenAI Codex (CLI)

OpenAI · hybrid · licence: Apache-2.0 (CLI) · homepage · pricing · changelog

Open source yes BYOK yes Sub-agents yes MCP client+server

Headless Cap strictness 5h + weekly rolling ~$20 plan cap_risk high

Unconfirmed / Community Reported: elevated complaints. Many posts Oct 16-19 report 5-hour and weekly limits draining far faster than expected; an OpenAI Codex lead posted on Oct 16 that changes increase effective usage. Community reported, unconfirmed. example post Checked 2026-10-20. Not part of the sourced changelog.

Plans and limits

Plan	Price /mo	Limits	Source
ChatGPT Free	$0	GPT-6 Luna in desktop app only, subject to rollout	source 2026-10-20
ChatGPT Go	$8	GPT-6 Luna in desktop app only, subject to rollout	source 2026-10-20
ChatGPT Plus	$20	5-hour window (vendor estimate 15-160 local msgs/5h on GPT-6.1 Sol) + weekly limits may apply	source 2026-10-20
ChatGPT Pro	$100	No 5-hour limit; weekly limit. Also $200 and $500 tiers; Ultrafast mode on Pro $500 only Tiers: $100, $200, $500	source 2026-10-20

Models

GPT-6.1 Sol GPT-6 Astra GPT-6 Sol GPT-6 Luna

Cost per benchmark task: $0.705 (GPT-6.1 Sol (medium), AA Coding Agent Index v1.5, source, retrieved 2026-10-05).

Changelog

2026-10-14 [model]

GPT-5.5 retired from Codex with ChatGPT sign-in (API-key sessions unaffected). source
2026-10-08 [price]

Ultrafast mode for GPT-6.1 Sol: Pro $500 only in Codex, uses 8x included usage (6x on purchased credits). source
2026-10-07 [model]

Codex CLI 0.161.0 makes GPT-6.1 Sol the default model. source
2026-10-06 [limit]

OpenAI API usage tiers cut from five to three (Build, Launch, Grow: $500 / $5,000 / $200,000 monthly usage limits; Grow now needs $500 in total payments); affects Codex on an API key. source
2026-09-29 [price]

Pro 500 ($500) launched with Ultrafast and 25x Plus usage. Pro 200 reopened to new subscribers at 10x Plus Codex/Work usage (was 20x); grandfathered Pro 200 subscribers keep 20x through Oct 29. source

Notes and gaps

developers.openai.com/codex/pricing now redirects to learn.chatgpt.com/docs/pricing (observed 2026-10-20).