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OpenAI Codex vs Cursor
OpenAI Codex scores higher overall (8.7 vs 8.3), but the right pick depends on what you need.
Choose OpenAI Codex if…
Developers who want parallel, asynchronous tasks and pull requests back, bundled with ChatGPT
8.7/10★★★★★Full review →Choose Cursor if…
IDE-first developers who want AI in every keystroke and the freedom to switch models
8.3/10★★★★★Full review →Side by side
| OpenAI Codex | Cursor | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 8.7/10 | 8.3/10 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 13 | #4 of 13 |
| Price | Freemium · from $8/month | Freemium · from $20/month |
| Free version | Quick coding tasks on ChatGPT Free | Hobby: free with limited agent requests |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, VS Code, Terminal, Desktop app | Desktop app, Terminal, Web |
| Made by | OpenAI | Anysphere (SpaceX) |
| Code quality | 9 | 8.5 |
| Ease of use | 8 | 9 |
| Features | 8.5 | 8.5 |
| Value for money | 9 | 7.5 |
| Platforms | 9 | 7.5 |
OpenAI Codex: what the AI does
- Cloud agent in sandboxed machines that delivers pull requests
- Open-source Codex CLI
- IDE extension and desktop app with multi-agent management
- Automatic GitHub code review
- Subagents, skills, hooks and MCP
- Codex Security vulnerability agent
- Top CLI agent on Terminal-Bench 2.0
- Low entry price, with free and $8 tiers
- Many surfaces: web, CLI, IDE, desktop, iOS
- Open-source CLI
- Async cloud tasks add latency for quick edits
- Only OpenAI models
- Free and Go tiers get a lighter model
Cursor: what the AI does
- Agent mode with multi-file edits
- Tab completion and inline edits
- Cloud agents and automations
- Cursor CLI
- Bugbot AI code review
- Choice of models (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, Composer)
- Polished AI-first editor experience
- Choice of frontier models
- Strong review and cloud-agent tooling
- VS Code extensions and keybindings carry over
- Usage-based billing makes heavy agent use unpredictable
- Its own Composer model scores far below the frontier models on Cursor's benchmark
- New SpaceX ownership raises questions about model neutrality