Codex Pricing: What Each ChatGPT Plan Actually Gets
There is no Codex subscription. Codex is included in every ChatGPT plan, including Free, and metered against that plan’s allowance. So the question is not what Codex costs, it is which ChatGPT tier you should be on and how fast agent runs eat it.
The plans
| Plan | Price | Codex included |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Yes |
| Go | $8/mo | Yes |
| Plus | $20/mo | Yes |
| Pro | From $100/mo | Yes, 5x Plus limits |
| Pro | $200/mo | Yes, 20x Plus limits |
| Business | $20/user/mo, 2 user minimum, annual billing | Yes, same limits as Plus |
| Enterprise and Edu | Contact sales | Yes |
Business is $20 per user per month on annual billing with a two-user floor, and $25 per user per month if you pay monthly. That distinction matters more than it looks: a three-person team on monthly billing is $75/month, not $60.
What the limits actually look like
OpenAI publishes limits as ranges per five-hour window rather than a fixed count, because “the number of messages you can send depends on the model used, size and complexity of your tasks.”
On Plus, per five-hour window:
| Model | Messages |
|---|---|
| GPT-5.6 Sol | 10 to 100 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | 25 to 200 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | 250 to 2,000 |
Pro 5x multiplies those by five, so Sol runs 50 to 500 and Terra 125 to 1,000. Pro 20x multiplies by twenty: Sol 200 to 2,000, Terra 500 to 4,000. Business seats get the same limits as Plus.
The spread inside a single row is the part to plan around. Sol on Plus is somewhere between ten and a hundred messages depending entirely on how big your tasks are, and a Codex run that reads a large codebase, executes tests, and iterates sits at the expensive end of that range every time.
When Plus and Pro users reach the included limit, additional credits let them keep working. OpenAI does not publish a standalone credit price on its plan page, so if credits are load-bearing for your budget, price them in your own account before committing.
The choice the table does not show
Codex is a coding agent, and the tier you need follows from how much of your day is spent running it rather than talking to it. A few substantial agent runs a day will move an individual from Plus toward Pro. Chat-shaped usage will not.
Two things to weigh before upgrading, because neither is fixed by spending more:
Metering is the model, not a starter restriction. Higher tiers raise the five-hour ceiling. They do not remove it, and they do not change the fact that a long autonomous run is the most usage-intensive thing you can do on a plan.
Nothing here buys a trigger. Codex starts because you started it. There is no address a client, a form, or a monitoring system can reach that begins work on its own, on any tier from Free to Enterprise.
That second gap is the fork. One-off, reasoning-heavy work is what Codex is genuinely excellent at and what these tiers are priced for. Recurring operational work is where the meter becomes the problem rather than the model, because you are paying agent-run prices for something identical every time.
Paying for the recurring half separately
Carly prices that half differently. Its Zapier-style workflow steps are free, so the triage-route-file-notify work that fires hundreds of times a month is not what you are rationing. Carly’s triggers are keyed per mailbox and per calendar, so work starts when mail actually lands in the client account rather than when someone remembers to ask. AI agents start at $35/month.
They also compose rather than compete. Carly runs an MCP server, so one command puts its email, calendar, CRM, and workflow tools inside the Codex CLI:
codex mcp add carly --url https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/Then codex mcp login carly to authorize. Those actions happen through Carly rather than against your ChatGPT allowance, which is the cheapest possible change to a five-hour window. The multiple Gmail accounts in Codex guide has the full setup, including how to reach several inboxes from one session.
FAQ
How much does Codex cost?
Nothing separately. Codex is included in every ChatGPT plan and metered against it. The cheapest paid access is Go at $8/month, and the common entry point for real usage is Plus at $20/month.
Is Codex free?
Yes, on the ChatGPT Free plan, within that plan’s limits. Free covers everyday use rather than sustained agent runs.
How many messages does Codex allow?
It varies by model and task size. On Plus, per five-hour window, GPT-5.6 Sol is 10 to 100 messages, Terra is 25 to 200, and Luna is 250 to 2,000. Pro 5x and Pro 20x multiply those by five and twenty.
Is Pro worth it over Plus for Codex?
If you hit the five-hour limit most days, yes: Pro 5x at $100/month is cheaper than the interruption. If you hit it occasionally, additional credits on Plus are the smaller commitment.
Does ChatGPT Business include Codex?
Yes, with the same limits as Plus, at $20 per user per month on annual billing with a two-user minimum, or $25 per user per month billed monthly.
Related: ChatGPT Work pricing · ChatGPT Work limits · Multiple Gmail accounts in Codex · Codex and Gmail · Claude Code pricing · Cursor pricing
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