Codex Pricing and Usage Limits: What to Check
Understand Codex plan prices, API billing and where to check remaining usage. Compare the cost of completed work before changing your subscription.
Last updated: 2026-09-18
There are two billing questions to separate: the price of your ChatGPT plan and the cost of API-key usage. This independent guide was checked on September 18, 2026. Verify your account's checkout before purchasing; prices and entitlements can change.
Codex plan pricing at a glance
The official pricing page displayed these individual monthly prices in USD when checked:
| Plan | Displayed monthly price |
|---|---|
| Free | $0 |
| Go | $8 |
| Plus | $20 |
| Pro | From $100 |
API-key use is billed according to API pricing. The plan page also states that ChatGPT Work and Codex share usage. This table is a dated reference, not a quote for your region, tax treatment or account.
Check your actual remaining usage
Open the usage dashboard, or use /status during an active Codex CLI session. These are the places named in the official usage guidance.
Save the exact limit message and the time you saw it. Distinguish “I cannot start another task” from “this task produced an incorrect result.” A usage limit alone does not establish a change in model quality.
Compare the cost of completed work
A monthly subscription figure cannot tell you how much supervision a task will need. Before upgrading, choose a representative task and record the outcome you can verify.
| Record | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The task and starting files | Keeps later attempts comparable |
| Acceptance checks passed | Separates useful work from merely generated output |
| Usage shown before and after | Gives an observation tied to your session |
| Elapsed time | Captures waiting separately from correctness |
| Manual corrections | Makes supervision visible |
Do not infer cost from the length of the final answer. Keep any account-displayed usage measurements separate from your own timing notes. If you cannot attribute a usage change to one task, label it as a session-level observation.
Should you upgrade or change the task?
If your main obstacle is incomplete or incorrect work, first test a smaller task with explicit acceptance criteria. Additional capacity will not itself verify the result. Use the quality troubleshooting guide to describe the failure.
If your tasks finish successfully and the displayed limit repeatedly interrupts work, compare the options currently offered in your account. Decide what extra completed work would justify the recurring charge. Accept that a larger allowance can still leave the same review burden.
If you are exploring API-key use, inspect its billing and the authentication method you intend to use before switching. Keep a record of that change so later cost comparisons do not mix billing modes. The authentication documentation explains the available sign-in paths.
Keep an evidence-based baseline
The CLI first-task guide helps establish a small working task. The benchmark guide explains how to preserve its conditions. Neither a single visual score nor an isolated bad response is enough to justify a subscription recommendation.
Recheck this page's price snapshot against the official page when your plan, region or billing method changes. Revisit your task record after a meaningful change in usage or completion quality.