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Is Codex Free?

Codex is included with ChatGPT Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans at no extra cost, with rate limits coming soon.

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Is Codex Free?

Codex is not a standalone free product — it's included at no additional cost for ChatGPT Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Plus users during its research preview period. OpenAI has stated that after this initial period, they will roll out rate-limited access and flexible pricing options for on-demand usage.

Context

Codex launched in May 2025 as a cloud-based software engineering agent accessible through the ChatGPT sidebar. Initially available only to Pro, Business, and Enterprise subscribers, OpenAI expanded access to Plus users in June 2025. There is no separate Codex subscription — access is bundled with your existing ChatGPT plan.

The "free" window is temporary. OpenAI explicitly described the current generous access as a way to let users explore Codex's capabilities, with rate limits and paid usage tiers planned for the future. If you're evaluating Codex for a team, factor in that costs will eventually apply beyond base plan pricing.

For developers who prefer a local workflow, Codex CLI is a separate open-source tool that runs in your terminal. It connects to OpenAI's API and uses usage-based billing: the default model codex-mini-latest is priced at $1.50 per 1M input tokens and $6 per 1M output tokens, with a 75% prompt caching discount. Plus and Pro users can redeem $5 and $50 in free API credits respectively for 30 days when signing in to Codex CLI with their ChatGPT account.

Practical Steps

  1. ChatGPT Pro/Business/Enterprise users: Open ChatGPT, find Codex in the sidebar, and start using it — no extra setup or payment required during the research preview
  2. ChatGPT Plus users: Access is available as of June 2025 under the same terms
  3. API/CLI users: Sign in to Codex CLI with your ChatGPT account to claim free API credits ($5 for Plus, $50 for Pro) valid for 30 days
  4. Free-tier ChatGPT users: Codex is not currently available on the free plan — you'll need at least a Plus subscription

For a deeper look at Codex's capabilities and how it fits into modern development workflows, see our complete Codex guide.

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