Cursor vs OpenAI Codex
Cursor and OpenAI Codex side by side: what each one is, verified plan pricing and install commands where we have them, and the full review of each.
Full decision guide
This page is the quick side-by-side. For current models, pricing, workflows and a decision framework, read our maintained Cursor vs OpenAI Codex guide.
Cursor
EssentialAI-native code editor forked from VS Code, now sold as part of The X Subscription. Agent edits multiple files at once and Tab autocomplete predicts your next edit. Plus is $8/mo (Cursor's own Grok and Composer models only); Premium at $30/mo adds third-party models at API list price.
OpenAI Codex
AgentOpenAI's coding agent for terminal, cloud, IDE, GitHub, Slack, and Linear workflows. Reads repos, edits files, runs commands, and returns reviewable diffs.
At a glance
| Field | | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI Coding | AI Coding |
| Website | cursor.sh | developers.openai.com |
| Pricing | Free - $0/mo: limited Agent and Chat usage; Plus - $8/mo ($80/yr): Cursor's own models only (Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5, Composer 2.5) at fixed settings; no Auto, Cloud Agents, Bugbot, third-party models or own API keys; Premium - $30/mo ($300/yr): 4x Plus usage, Cloud Agents and Automations, Origin code hosting, Bugbot, third-party models at API list price from prepaid credit; Super - $100/mo ($1,000/yr): 15x Plus usage, priority model access at peak times; Ultra - $200/mo ($2,000/yr): 50x Plus usage, earliest access to new products and models; Teams - $30, $100, or $200 per seat/mo; third-party models at API list price plus a $0.25 per million token Cursor Token Rate; Enterprise - custom pricing, pooled usage | Free - $0 and Go - $8/mo: GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the desktop app, subject to rollout; Plus - $20/mo: Codex on the web, in the CLI, IDE extension, and iOS, plus cloud code review and Slack; GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna; Pro - $100, $200, or $500/mo: everything in Plus, currently no five-hour limit; Ultrafast mode on Pro $500; Business - $20/user/mo billed annually ($25 monthly), 2+ users; Enterprise and Edu - contact sales; API key - pay per token at OpenAI API rates; no cloud features such as GitHub code review or Slack |
| Install | curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash or irm 'https://cursor.com/install?win32=true' | iex | curl -fsSL https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.sh | sh or npm install -g @openai/codex or brew install --cask codex |
| Models | Paid plans include a weekly usage pool, shared with Grok, for Cursor's own models: Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5, and Composer 2.5. Claude (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku 5.5, Fable 5.1), GPT-5.6, Gemini 4 Argon and 3.x, and Meta Muse Wonder are third-party models billed at API list price from prepaid credit on Premium and above; individual plans get Auto in Cost mode, while Teams and Enterprise can use Cursor Router's Balance and Intelligence modes. | GPT-6.1 Sol is the recommended model for complex coding and the CLI default, with GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6 Sol, and GPT-6 Luna also available and GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna kept during the rollout. Switch with /model in a session, codex --model (or -m) at launch, or a model entry in config.toml; API-key sessions get whatever models the key can access. |
| Last verified | October 25, 2026 | October 17, 2026 |
In Depth
Cursor
Cursor is a fork of VS Code rebuilt around AI. The killer feature is Composer - you describe a change in natural language and it edits multiple files simultaneously with a diff view. Tab autocomplete goes beyond single-line suggestions, predicting multi-line edits based on your recent changes. It indexes your entire codebase for context and supports OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Cursor models, and custom API keys. Plans are Free, Plus $8/mo, Premium $30/mo, Super $100/mo, and Ultra $200/mo; Claude, GPT, and Gemini are billed at API list price on Premium and above, and the old Pro and Pro+ plans continue only for existing customers. I use Cursor for visual editing alongside Claude Code for CLI-driven autonomous work.
OpenAI Codex
Codex is OpenAI's autonomous coding agent for local CLI work and cloud task delegation. It can inspect a repository, make multi-file edits, run tests, and create reviewable diffs or pull requests depending on the workflow. Use the CLI when local services and immediate feedback matter. Use cloud tasks when branch isolation, async completion, and GitHub review loops matter more.
FAQ
Answers taken from each tool's verified fact sheet, with the date it was last checked.
How much does Cursor cost?
As of October 25, 2026: Free - $0/mo: limited Agent and Chat usage; Plus - $8/mo ($80/yr): Cursor's own models only (Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5, Composer 2.5) at fixed settings; no Auto, Cloud Agents, Bugbot, third-party models or own API keys; Premium - $30/mo ($300/yr): 4x Plus usage, Cloud Agents and Automations, Origin code hosting, Bugbot, third-party models at API list price from prepaid credit; Super - $100/mo ($1,000/yr): 15x Plus usage, priority model access at peak times; Ultra - $200/mo ($2,000/yr): 50x Plus usage, earliest access to new products and models; Teams - $30, $100, or $200 per seat/mo; third-party models at API list price plus a $0.25 per million token Cursor Token Rate; Enterprise - custom pricing, pooled usage. Source: Cursor pricing, Cursor docs: Models and Pricing, Cursor docs: Legacy Cursor plans, Cursor CLI installation, Cursor changelog.
How do I install Cursor?
Official install commands as of October 25, 2026: curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash or irm 'https://cursor.com/install?win32=true' | iex.
Which models does Cursor use?
As of October 25, 2026: Paid plans include a weekly usage pool, shared with Grok, for Cursor's own models: Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5, and Composer 2.5. Claude (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku 5.5, Fable 5.1), GPT-5.6, Gemini 4 Argon and 3.x, and Meta Muse Wonder are third-party models billed at API list price from prepaid credit on Premium and above; individual plans get Auto in Cost mode, while Teams and Enterprise can use Cursor Router's Balance and Intelligence modes.
How much does OpenAI Codex cost?
As of October 17, 2026: Free - $0 and Go - $8/mo: GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the desktop app, subject to rollout; Plus - $20/mo: Codex on the web, in the CLI, IDE extension, and iOS, plus cloud code review and Slack; GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna; Pro - $100, $200, or $500/mo: everything in Plus, currently no five-hour limit; Ultrafast mode on Pro $500; Business - $20/user/mo billed annually ($25 monthly), 2+ users; Enterprise and Edu - contact sales; API key - pay per token at OpenAI API rates; no cloud features such as GitHub code review or Slack. Source: Codex pricing, Codex changelog, Models, Codex CLI docs, openai/codex README.
How do I install OpenAI Codex?
Official install commands as of October 17, 2026: curl -fsSL https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.sh | sh or npm install -g @openai/codex or brew install --cask codex.
Which models does OpenAI Codex use?
As of October 17, 2026: GPT-6.1 Sol is the recommended model for complex coding and the CLI default, with GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6 Sol, and GPT-6 Luna also available and GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna kept during the rollout. Switch with /model in a session, codex --model (or -m) at launch, or a model entry in config.toml; API-key sessions get whatever models the key can access.
