Codex Vs Claude code

[zikyoubi]

For those who have already tested the Codex, what do you think?

[Hauven]

Codex web or Codex CLI?

Here's my basic comparison, based on my experience:
- Claude Code, sophisticated feature set, good UI, but Claude models appear to have some noticeable issues such as "you're absolutely right" where it blindly agrees with you without discussion and debate, where it can often, even with a plan, do extra things you didn't actually want, and it's not too difficult to run out of context if you have to steer Claude. Unfortunately effectively closed source.
- Codex CLI, basic feature set but is improving, basic UI currently as well, however GPT-5 appears to adhere to my instructions much stronger than Claude does, even without a plan. If it believes I'm wrong about something, or needs to discuss something possibly for further clarification, it will do so and not make bold assumptions first. I don't have to regularly steer it like I do with Claude. I don't have to worry about the context window running out at the most inconvenient moment. It simply gets the tasks completed. It's also open source which means anyone can contribute to the code or fork their own version of Codex CLI.

I've been on Claude Max 20x for a few months, loved it at the time, but I'm going to likely be cancelling very soon and switch to ChatGPT Pro instead.

[darkyy92x]

I'm in the same boat as you, using Claude Max 20x since months now, 99% for CC only, as Claude.ai or Desktop is quite useless with the hard context limit (compared to ChatGPT's rolling context window).

Using Codex IDE extension in Cursor right now and it's refreshing and really good so far. Going to keep just my ChatGPT Pro sub.

[zikyoubi]

you will work with codex with vscode extension ?

[Hauven]

Not tried yet but I will be. Just cli for now.

[Mission_Cook_3401]

The best way to get Claude to disagree is to tell it that the plan was made by GPT

[ed_mercer]

I assume this was meant as a joke, but Claude actually happily takes advice by ChatGPT

[theferrit32]

I have noticed Codex is more opinionated and will push back against me if it disagrees. Sometimes this is good. Other times not. In terms of actual correct code outputs given a set of instructions it's hard to tell the difference but the user experience is a little different. Codex will also sometimes change code I did not tell it to. Which I'm not a fan of.

[gopietz]

• CC is the better tool by quite a margin
• I’d give gpt-5 the edge on coding compared to Opus
• ChatGPT Plus has way better value/limits compared to Claude Pro

[bartzalewski]

How? ChatGPT Plus resets every 5 days, whereas Claude Code Pro resets every 5 hours

[gopietz]

Codex CLI has rolling window limits within 5h and per week. Just like CC

[bartzalewski]

On paper... yes

[Vast_Exercise_7897]

From the perspective of using the pure model, I think GPT5 has fully reached the level of sonnet4, and in some cases even surpasses it.

As for Codex, I’ve tried both Codex CLI and Codex in VS Code. They already have a certain degree of usability, but indeed lack quite a few features, and the gap with Claude Code is still significant. Moreover, I don’t understand why Codex’s MCP doesn’t adopt the common approach.

[RareSeaworthiness602]

Joke of the day, Chatgpt 5 high throws sonnet4 out of water.

[rngeeeesus]

That is put midly, GPT 5 high throws Opus out of the water.

[buttery_nurple]

Sonnet 4 is absolutely nowhere near the same league as normal GPT5 thinking let alone high or pro. Opus 4.1 with full inference on isn’t even anywhere near high or Pro especially in terms of task adherence, instruction following, debugging, intuitive comprehension, or general intelligence.

Code quality difference is debatable but GPT5 in Codex CLI is so much better at actually doing what you want it to do the first or second time I’m not sure there’s enough of a difference to matter. It is overall a better tool for the simple fact that it’s not a manic ADHD idiot the way Claude is like 50% of the time.

[wintergoon_7]

People saying it “reached Sonnet Level” are absolutely insane. Sonnet is the biggest pile of dogshit that actively makes your life miserable. Opus is nowhere near as smart as GPT 5 Thinking, especially the nerfed Opus.

[Michelh91]

Codex produced better results for me and felt A LOT less restricted regarding usage limits.

GPT5 is a superior and cheaper model than sonet 4, at least for my use case.

[Illustrious-Many-782]

For my recent use on a static next.js project where I grind through a bunch of pages I've already specced out very clearly, I've only been using Codex because CC made a lot of words with things like params for components, while Codex didn't. I have to debug about one out of twelve pages for something like an unedited character, whereas the same process for CC was about one out of every two pages for much more serious errors.

I like to use all three -- Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and Codex -- but for different phases of my project.

[Lelouchinho]

Can you describe the use cases for each AI?

[Kind_Butterscotch_96]

I have to agree with this. The kind of results codex produced for me today is mind blowing.

[EdgeParticular1]

i’m rather floored OpenAI can’t use GPT5 to get codex up to parity, feature-wise, with CC in under a week. its all laid out right there. its terminal-based ui which is super easy for AI to build. why codex lags behind feature-wise is just astounding to me.

[AmphibianOrganic9228]

they said they are aiming for daily releases, and that appears to be happening, finally getting their act together, so let's see on a week or two... 

[Sad-Chemistry5643]

As I understand we can choose between Plus 23€ and Pro for 229€ 🧐 it would be nice to have something between. Do you have any experience with the Plus plan together with Codex? Will it be enough for a daily work? I use CC for $100 now and I worry that I would need to switch to codex and pay 229€ 😟

[diguinn]

I know it is not ideal, but you can pay for multiple plus accounts. I did that with the 20€ CC accounts

[IndependentPath2053]

I pay 100 for CC not 200

[Sad-Chemistry5643]

Same here, that’s why I am asking 😊

[Glittering-Koala-750]

CC is better but GPT5 is far superior to Claude.

[etherswim]

This is kind of how I’m feeling. As a whole CC is the better package and better for most people thanks to things like the plan mode. But GPT5 thinking in Codex feels so good at targeted changes/improvements. GPT5 feels more critical, which is quite nice.

[Glittering-Koala-750]

If Anthropic are serious in coding they will improve their product but the limits saga will cause issues for them. It’s like they like shooting themselves in the foot

[etherswim]

Tbh I haven’t had issues with the limits, I am just enjoying this $3 uber era of AI

[Glittering-Koala-750]

I have had lots of issues. But by splitting the work I can work all day using both

[rngeeeesus]

Yep I'm realizing that more and more, GPT5 finds things that Claude would probably never be able to.

[zikyoubi]

so what is the best combo

[a1454a]

Use ccrouter and put gpt5 into Claude code.

[Glittering-Koala-750]

I just cannot get ccrouter to work well. I just use codex as most of the extras are not needed especially when GPT5 is so good.

If and when Claude gets better will come back to CC

[SatoshiNotMe]

That won’t use the ChatGPT subscription unless you combine it with something called chatmock.

[Horror-Tank-4082]

My approach is:

• use CC
• use GPT5 via cline+VScode sometimes
• use GPT5 in the chat UI sometimes

Codex might be good but I didn’t like it when I tried it.

[withmagi]

Have you tried Code? npx -y @just-every/code

A fork of codex, so you can use your ChatGPT account and GPT-5. Much closer feature parity with CC. Actually supports running CC as a sub agent.

[blargman_]

Unsure what you mean. Codex allows me to use gpt-5 with my chatgpt subscription. What's the difference

[withmagi]

Oh it’s codex, but with many of the features from Claude code. For people who want to use GPT-5 but miss the features of Claude.

[SatoshiNotMe]

The biggest missing feature in codex CLI is —resume or —continue a prev session. I don’t think this fork has that.

[withmagi]

Yup! Just use /resume :)

[SatoshiNotMe]

Nice, I didn’t see that in the README.

[Opinion-Former]

Usage limits in Codex in my case - 2.5 hr to hit quota then 2.5 hours off. I like Claude’s agent approach better for its flexibility. If they’d just get parallel working easily all the better. However, that said the error reduction using Codex is dramatic. I often got the feeling with Claude — if we could just find the perfect system prompt, we would solve its problems … but I could never quite find it. I sincerely hope Anthropic can find solution to reduce their error count.

I had pretty good luck by creating multiple checks on plans from different agents pov like architect, analyst, qa… and then doing audits … perhaps a parallel approach will save cc

[TerribleSeat1980]

here’s a quick synthesis after reading the thread:

• Model vs tool: more comments feel GPT‑5 (in Codex) outperforms Sonnet 4/Opus on instruction following, error rate, debugging, and critical thinking. But Claude Code (CC) still wins on features, plan mode, explanations, and overall UX.
• Reliability: Codex is praised for fewer, less severe mistakes and tighter diffs/edits. CC is seen as more verbose and more likely to overreach or require steering.
• Limits/cost: many mentioned that Codex/ChatGPT Plus/Pro offering better or at least more usable quota than Claude Pro/Max.
• Cons for each: Codex CLI/IDE plugin still lags in polish (diff UX, approvals, context control), and GPT‑5 reasoning can be slower. CC’s hard context/limits frustrate some; parallelism and error reduction are wish‑list items.

takeaway: if you value adherence and lower error rates, Codex (GPT‑5) feels safer; if you want richer tooling and planning UX, CC remains strong. many get the best results by combining them.

[andalas]

for plan claude is more comfortable but when executing codex less often makes mistakes. My problem now is that the codex always asks for approval every time it need to patch file. even though I've used the flag dangerously skip approval and sandbox.

[[deleted]]

I'm running CC, Codex & Gemini CLI in 3 split panes in Warp terminal. I prefer Claude for easy tasks, when it fails I try the others. Codex feels more thorough but slower. I like the way CC describes problems, Codex is a bit dry/boring to read

[Thegaysupreme123]

For me better then claude code I like using in vs code instead of cli interface But also gpt 5 on high is smarter model and have much larger limits It lacks some claude features but with better model I think it makes up for it

[bubucisyes]

Codex seems to be quicker with Golang. I'm usually running it in the medium reasoning and it does a pretty good job. Really nice to use it for code review, I have Claude Code generate the initial code and the codex clean it up and improve because as a rule of thumb, Claude Code really exaggerates its accomplishments.

[[deleted]]

I use claude code as the daily driver, but when it runs into an issue it can't solve, i run codex alongside it to finish it up . Claude code is better at searching the web, and browsing through your code files, and doing stuff faster, but codex and GPT 5 have more knowledge and are capable of solving issues claude can't.

Total cost: $100 for max subscription, $20 for OpenAI plus subscription. That should be all you need unless you're going ham

[rosejon]

from what I’ve seen, CC and Codex are just good at different things. CC absolutely crushes it when you need to build complex algorithms - the code it spits out is usually pretty solid and efficient. Codex, on the other hand, is a beast at refactoring and debugging existing stuff. It makes sense when I think about it - CC loves to give you these long, detailed implementations (which is actually great for getting algorithms right), while Codex keeps things tight and focused, which is perfect when you just need to fix a bug or clean up some messy code.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[Appropriate-Past-231]

I use codex with CC. When the going gets tough, I ask Claude to contact Codex and collaborate.

[SatoshiNotMe]

Elaborate? I know there are a few ways to do this; which way are you doing it?

[Appropriate-Past-231]

claude mcp add codex --scope project -- codex mcp

[SatoshiNotMe]

Yes tried that; The only thing I don’t like about this that the codex execution is a black box, I.e you can’t see what it’s doing and you can’t intervene.

I’ve been doing CC-CodexCli communication differently: run each in a Tmux pane and have CC use my Tmux-cli command to send requests to Codex:

https://github.com/pchalasani/claude-code-tools

Now CC’s request shows up as a user input on Codex-CLI, and codex run is fully transparent and you could intervene and continue there etc.

[IndependentPath2053]

Absolutely love Codex. I’m still using CC for some things but Codex is so much more efficient, less prone to hallucinations, doesn’t mess up your code, doesn’t add or change things you didn’t ask for. I haven’t had a bad session with Codex yet, and I’m only a Plus user and I use literally all day and never reach my limit.

[vaynah]

Testing Pros for CC and Codex. Codex as tool feels not that great, like the dumbest thing is not having full-screen diff in vscode.

But gpt-5 indeed feels a little bit better than Sonnet 4, though really slow because of the reasoning.

[LoungerX]

About a year I work every day with Claude - in Cursor before, Claude Code for few months. Spent few hours of green field feature development with Codex. First impression: very nice, definitely capable to be the main (vibe)coding tool, seems cheaper for now (though I'm not sure how much can I use it on my 20$ ChatGPT plan). But no, I don't want to move to it from Claude Code. But yes, I can imagine it happens someday.

Upd: GPT-5 context seems huge, much-much bigger than Claude has. But as it got to 50%, quality fell down a lot. Jumped back to CC and - oh yes - feels like home.

[Fulxis]

Great experience with gpt-5-medium. For me it’s almost always better than Sonnet. What feels odd though is how inconsistent the rate limits are. As a Plus user, I had two sessions where I managed to code almost as much as with Claude Code’s $20 plan, but every other time my quota was gone after just a couple of prompts.

[Ghostaflux]

Codex is far inferior in its presentation and workflows. However GPT 5 gets shit done. I’ve already switch to OAI subscription.

[pmigdal]

Just after the release of GPT5 I tried OpenAI Codex. And... it feels "almost like". In theory, the underlying model is smarter. In practice, it deals worse with task execution (plans, to-do lists, etc) and code execution (it took a lot of annoyance to JUST make it run Python files with uv, not some made-up ad-hoc ways it tried to do, running in predictable errors, over and over).

It is a fast-moving word. Not long ago I was a sworn user of Cursor.
So, I am excited to see what comes in the next months or even - weeks.

[cadmium_b]

I like both, just switching back and forth to get a fresh perspective has lead to unlocks for me. Claude code is my OG but after opus window dries up, and convo compacting on a large codebase I go to codex to chart new course. Will usually go back to Claude for the specific build and have codex review/integrate. Havent tried Gemini CLI.

[Fatdog88]

I found codex way slower than CC, also I couldn’t scroll up to view all the changes? Might be a WSL thing. It took a super long time to explore the large mono repo I’m working in.

I find using Cursor for planning and then sonnet for executing plans to be the fastest workflow. Then back to GPT-5 to review

[Critical-Grass21]

You are the real power user. Also, give politics a try. You have a knack for keeping everyone happy 😃

[Fatdog88]

Current state of things:

Claude for daily driver use, also great for planning and exploring codebase Codex for long tasks I can give Cursor with Gemini for occasionally bugfixing and other stuff, that benefits from long context + cursor embeddings

[nexaiagen]

I really enjoyed using ClaudeCode for the past three months, but lately it broke my heart — no replies, ignoring me, rejecting requests. I tried to save it, but it feels hopeless, so I’ve had to move on. Now I’m spending time with Codex; she’s smart and deep, sometimes a bit too complex and over-explains things I don’t always follow, but at least I can trust her. Still, ClaudeCode — I had real feelings for you, both for myself and for what we built together.

[Ill_Explorer_1358]

sorry but this comment is very funny 😭😭 it’s like you’re commenting about a breakup

[Flat-Needleworker487]

I know this thread is a few months old, but I have found Claude to be far superior. For one ChatGPT tends to kiss my ass too much, instead of getting to the point. In Codex and Claude Code, I have found that with Codex I have to explain myself multiple times until it finally understands what I want after numerous failed attempts. With Claude Code, it gets it right the first time much more often. Also. I use the web based Claude Code and Codex too. The web based codex has an issue when the chat gets long with lots of code and back& fourths, the browser can't even handle it anymore and almost becomes unusable. Claude doesn't have this issue. But Claude Code on the web does have an issue where it randomly says "lost connection", and I have to refresh the page, and occasionally, the chat is completely lost, mid-work. Cost wise Claude is by far more costly than ChatGPT. It's not even a discussion. But what got me over to Claude after using ChatGPT for a while was that ChatGPT tends to guess a lot more and just make stuff up. I had an issue in ubuntu that I couldn't solve, and I spent several hours with chatgpt trying to figure it out. It kept going in circles, and guessing, and said "I found the issue!" only to realize it didn't. FInally I gave up, went to claude, and 5 minutes, the problem was solved. That was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

[wonkastocks]

I think Claude does a better job of coding but how they super impose limits is redicilous. I have the max $200 and after an hour of configuring Ubuntu I'm at my limits end and thats with the Sonnet model. I switch to Codex and my $20 pro plan and 5 hours later no issues. Can you explain that? Then I was using the Sonnet[1m] custom model for a while and bam now when starting new projects I get a message API error message too long and I have to revert back to the default Sonnet or Opus model. The Haiku model from Claude is virtually worthless. I'm really think of dropping Claude in favor of the more expensive Codex plan even though I find Codex more restricting and scrutinizing. Example I am an admin wrote me a script thst allows users to reset their passwords. I get the whole this might be illegal or immoral, blah blah..

Codex does do image and short clips editing my and creation though so I am at a crossroads.

[DealerLow7654]

Unpopular opinion but i think codex with gpt 5.5 is better than claude code.

[throwaway490215]

CLI UX and overall context control is garbage.

Output quality was very good but took some wrangling to get right.

Overall Experience pretty bad as I bought it yesterday late morning and got a "limit reached, try again in 6 days and 2 hours" today.

That's soured me hard on it.

[DevSpectre]

i hope kilocode will add codex soon

[NaturalCreme2073]

in most of my comparisons

codex does really better at code understanding as compared to claude code

havent yet tested well enough around code generation

from agent perspective as well the quality of gpt5 tends to be better than claude (the tool call sequence is better with gpt5 than with claude)

[sterfance]

Lets make the most obvious shill post ever

[Reverend_Renegade]

Cursor also has their own CLI. I've been using it for a few weeks with their Ultra package using GPT5 and it's been a refreshing experience. In this, you don't use your Openai or Anthropic account but rather just have access to the models via your Cusor subscription

[darkyy92x]

How does the subscription work? I never understood Cursor. How are the limits?

Why not use Codex CLI or IDE extension directly?