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OpenAI Codex vs GitHub Copilot
OpenAI Codex scores higher overall (8.7 vs 8.6), 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 GitHub Copilot if…
Developers and teams on GitHub who want AI in the IDE they already use, at the lowest entry price
8.6/10★★★★★Full review →Side by side
| OpenAI Codex | GitHub Copilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 8.7/10 | 8.6/10 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 13 | #2 of 13 |
| Price | Freemium · from $8/month | Freemium · from $10/month |
| Free version | Quick coding tasks on ChatGPT Free | Limited chat and agent usage, including the CLI and agent mode |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, VS Code, Terminal, Desktop app | Web, iOS, VS Code, JetBrains, Terminal, Desktop app, Other |
| Made by | OpenAI | GitHub (Microsoft) |
| Code quality | 9 | 7.5 |
| Ease of use | 8 | 9 |
| Features | 8.5 | 9 |
| Value for money | 9 | 8.5 |
| Platforms | 9 | 10 |
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
GitHub Copilot: what the AI does
- Inline code completion
- Agent mode in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Eclipse and Xcode
- Cloud agent that turns issues into pull requests
- Pull request code review
- Copilot CLI and MCP support
- Delegation to Claude and Codex agents (Pro+/Max)
- Widest IDE coverage of any tool here
- Lowest paid entry price ($10/month)
- Built into GitHub issues, pull requests and code review
- Can use several vendors' models and agents
- Usage-based AI Credits make monthly costs harder to predict
- Reviewers say its multi-file agent work trails Cursor and Claude Code
- Free tier is small