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Heroes of Might and Magic 3Codex vs Cursor
OpenAI Codex is a coding agent included with ChatGPT plans, while Cursor is an AI code editor now owned by SpaceX and sold inside The X Subscription with Grok models; as of Nov 6, 2026 Codex's GPT-6 models score far higher on independent leaderboards, while Cursor offers a full editor and other makers' models at API prices.
Codex is OpenAI's coding agent, included with every ChatGPT plan from Free to Pro, while Cursor is a code editor with its own agent, owned by SpaceX since a deal agreed on Jun 16, 2026 and sold to new customers inside The X Subscription at $8 to $200 a month. They are less rivals than they look: the Codex IDE Extension runs inside Cursor, so many developers use both. As of Nov 6, 2026 the models behind Codex rank well above Cursor's own Grok and Composer models on independent leaderboards, and Codex's $20 plan includes cloud tasks and GitHub reviews; Cursor wins as an editor (tab completion, inline edits, a familiar VS Code-style window) and on choice of models from several makers. Learn more: https://ai.vi.ki/cursor.
Quick facts
| Owner | Codex: OpenAI; Cursor: Anysphere, bought by SpaceX for $60 billion (agreed Jun 16, 2026) |
| What it is | Codex: an agent in the ChatGPT app, CLI, IDE and cloud; Cursor: an AI code editor with agents |
| Entry price | Codex: $0 on ChatGPT Free; Cursor: Plus $8 a month for new customers, as of Nov 6, 2026 |
| $20 tier | Codex: ChatGPT Plus $20; Cursor: legacy Pro $20 (no longer the new-customer plan) |
| Main models | Codex: GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol, Terra, GPT-6 Luna; Cursor: Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5 and Composer 2.5 |
| Other makers' models | Codex: OpenAI only (or a custom Responses API provider); Cursor: third-party models at API list price on Premium and up |
Verdict by task
| Task | Codex | Cursor | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model quality (independent) | GPT-6 Astra 57, GPT-6.1 Sol 55 | Grok 4.7 35 | Codex (Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index) |
| Editing inside an editor | Sidebar extension in VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf | Full editor with Tab completion | Cursor |
| Cheapest paid plan | Go $8 (GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app) | Plus $8 (Grok models only) | Tie on price |
| Cloud agents | Codex Cloud on Plus $20 | Cloud agents on Premium $30 | Codex, on price |
| Choice of model makers | OpenAI only | Grok, Composer, others at API price | Cursor |
| Bundled extras | ChatGPT (chat, images, voice, Work) | Grok, X Premium | Depends which you use |
| Privacy | Documented per plan | Not read today | No reliable comparison yet |
Which has the better models?
Codex, by a wide margin on published, measured rankings. The Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, read Nov 6, 2026, scores GPT-6 Astra (max) at 57 and GPT-6.1 Sol (max) at 55, against 35 for Grok 4.7 (xhigh), the newest model in Cursor's own pool. On Arena Text, dated Oct 27, 2026, GPT-6 Astra is 37th at 1476 and Grok 4.7 96th at 1441. Neither leaderboard lists Composer 2.5, so it has no independent score.
Cursor's answer is choice: on Premium and higher plans it can run third-party models at API list price, billed separately, and its legacy plans have an "Other Models pool" priced the same way. OpenAI itself brought GPT-5.3-Codex natively to Cursor on Feb 9, 2026. Cursor's pages read for this article do not list which outside models are offered today.
Price and plans
Codex is part of the ChatGPT subscription. As of Nov 6, 2026 OpenAI lists Free at $0 and Go at $8 (both with GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app, subject to rollout), Plus at $20 with the CLI, IDE extension, web, iOS, cloud code review and Slack, Pro at $100, $200 or $500, and Business at $20 per user a month billed annually. See Codex Pricing and Limits.
New Cursor customers start on The X Subscription, which bundles Grok, Cursor and X Premium. Cursor's pricing page lists Plus at $8 a month ("Only Grok models are available on this plan"), Premium at $30 (four times Plus's usage, the latest Grok models, cloud agents and automations, code hosting and AI code reviews), Super at $100 (15 times Plus) and Ultra at $200 (50 times Plus), with Teams from $30 per user. The usage pool is shared across Grok and Cursor and refreshes weekly. Older Cursor plans still work for existing subscribers: Hobby free, Pro $20, Pro+ $60, Ultra $200, and Teams at $40 or $120 per user.
Verdict: equal at $8. At $20 to $30, Codex's ChatGPT Plus includes cloud tasks that Cursor puts in the $30 Premium tier; Cursor's bundle makes more sense for someone who already wants Grok or X Premium.
Editing versus delegating
Cursor is the editor: its free Hobby plan already includes Agent, Chat and Tab, and Tab completion is the feature Codex has no equivalent of. Codex is built to be handed whole tasks. It runs in the ChatGPT Desktop App with parallel chats, in the Codex CLI, in Codex Cloud where a task keeps working while the computer sleeps, and as a sidebar in VS Code, Cursor and Windsurf.
The two meet in the middle: Cursor also has cloud agents on Premium, and Codex's IDE extension opens beside Cursor's own agent. Since Aug 11, 2026 the Codex desktop app can import from other agents, including Cursor with /import.
Code review
Codex reviews pull requests on GitHub when someone comments @codex review, or automatically, and flags only P0 and P1 issues (Codex Code Review). Cursor includes "Code hosting & AI code reviews" on Premium and Bugbot on Teams (Cursor pricing). No published test compares the two reviewers: no reliable comparison yet, beyond one developer's 2025 impression under What testers found.
Ownership and privacy
Cursor's change of owner matters to some teams. SpaceX agreed to buy it in June 2026, and TechCrunch reported on Oct 13, 2026 that it is now sold alongside Grok by SpaceX Super Intelligence. Codex's data rules are documented: personal ChatGPT plans share data for training by default with an off switch, and Codex Business has no training on business data by default (Privacy and Data Controls). Cursor's data policy was not read for this page, so the two are not compared on privacy.
Which should you choose?
Choose Codex to delegate whole tasks to strong models, to run them in the cloud or from a phone, or because ChatGPT is already paid for. Choose Cursor for a full AI editor with Tab completion, for Grok and other makers' models, or if The X Subscription's bundle suits you. Running the Codex extension inside Cursor gives both. For the other agents, see Codex vs Claude Code, Codex vs GitHub Copilot and Codex vs Antigravity. Learn more: https://ai.vi.ki/cursor.
What testers found
In a Sep 28, 2025 video, before SpaceX bought Cursor, Builder.io's Steve Sewell, a longtime Cursor agent user who had moved to Claude Code and then to Codex as his daily tool, said the agents were "converging": Cursor's, Claude Code's and Codex's had become very similar, each copying the others' improvements.
On code review, he put Codex's GitHub reviews first and called Cursor's Bugbot the next best, saying it "finds very good bugs" and that "you can't go wrong with either one". Both products have changed since.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use Codex inside Cursor? Yes. OpenAI's Codex extension (Marketplace id openai.chatgpt) works in Cursor as well as VS Code and Windsurf; open it from the Codex icon or "Codex: Open Codex Sidebar".
Who owns Cursor now? SpaceX agreed on Jun 16, 2026 to buy Anysphere, Cursor's maker, for $60 billion in stock. New customers buy Cursor through The X Subscription with Grok and X Premium.
Is Codex cheaper than Cursor? Both start at $8 a month for paid use (ChatGPT Go and Cursor Plus), and Codex also runs on ChatGPT Free. Cloud tasks cost $20 a month with ChatGPT Plus and $30 with Cursor Premium.
Can Cursor use OpenAI's GPT-6 models? Cursor's Plus plan runs only Grok models; Premium and higher run third-party models at API list price, billed separately. Cursor's pages read on Nov 6, 2026 do not name which ones.
Which is better for beginners? Cursor feels like a normal editor with help built in, which suits learning; Codex on ChatGPT Free is the cheaper way to try an agent that does whole tasks.
Sources
- Pricing, Models, IDE extension, Cloud, GitHub and Changelog, OpenAI Codex docs, read Nov 6, 2026
- Data controls, OpenAI Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
- Pricing, Legacy Cursor plans and Grok Bot plans, Cursor, read Nov 6, 2026
- SpaceX to buy Cursor, CNBC, Jun 16, 2026
- SpaceXSI bundles X Premium, Grok and Cursor into one subscription, Sarah Perez, TechCrunch, Oct 13, 2026
- Models leaderboard, Artificial Analysis, read Nov 6, 2026
- Text leaderboard, Arena, Oct 27, 2026, read Nov 6, 2026
- Code review is no longer the bottleneck, OpenAI, Oct 12, 2026 (video)
- Codex vs Claude Code: which AI coding agent is better?, Steve (Builder.io), Sep 28, 2025 (video)
Moments
Code review is no longer the bottleneck
OpenAI
Codex vs Claude Code: which AI coding agent is better?
Steve (Builder.io)
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See also
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CodexCodex is OpenAI's coding agent: it reads a codebase, edits files, runs commands and tests, reviews pull requests and works in the cloud. As of Nov 6, 2026 it lives inside the ChatGPT desktop app, in the Codex CLI, in IDE extensions, in Codex Cloud and on mobile, and every ChatGPT plan includes some of it, Free and Go too.
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Codex Pricing and LimitsCodex comes with every ChatGPT plan as of Nov 6, 2026: Free ($0) and Go ($8) get GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app, Plus ($20) gets about 15 to 160 GPT-6.1 Sol messages per five hours plus Codex Cloud, and Pro ($100, $200 or $500) has no five-hour limit. Credits extend any plan, and an API key bills by the token instead.
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