Compare OpenAI Codex and Windsurf free tiers side by side. Pricing, limits, change history, and risk assessment for developers.

OpenAI Codex vs Windsurf

Side-by-side free tier comparison. Catalogue dates here run to 2026-08-30.

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Verdict

Windsurf offers a free tier ("Free"). We are not publishing a free-tier verdict for OpenAI Codex. Tier "Freemium" is a paid product with a trial-shaped entry point, not a stated free tier. We are not publishing a stability rating for OpenAI Codex. We are not comparing the two pricing histories.

A verdict here is not a fixed property of the vendor. A one-off pricing event demotes a vendor while its recorded date falls in the last 180 days and then lapses on its own, with nothing about the vendor having changed; a standing condition — a free tier withdrawn, a product retired — does not lapse with time. A badge carrying a date states the record it rests on; a badge with no date rests on no record in force.

OpenAI Codex

Risk
CategoryAI Coding
TierFreemium
Verified2026-08-30
Last read2026-08-30
Changes1 recorded
Cloud-native coding agent by OpenAI. Available with a ChatGPT subscription and, separately, with an API key billed on token use; both routes are current. ChatGPT Business has two seat types, both carrying Codex: Standard at $20/user/mo billed annually ($25 monthly) and Premium at $100/user/mo billed annually ($125 monthly), where Premium buys 5x more usage than Standard and removes the five-hour usage limit. Also in ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo) and Pro (from $100/mo). Codex-only pay-as-you-go seats closed to new Business workspaces in June 2026; existing seats continue. The Codex pricing page we cite lists only the Standard seat — the Premium seat is published on OpenAI's business pricing page. $100 credit per new Codex team member (up to $500/team, limited time). 2M+ weekly users. API via codex-mini at $1.50/1M input, $6/1M output tokens.

Windsurf

CategoryAI Coding
TierFree
Verified2026-06-25
Last read2026-06-25
Changes3 recorded
AI-powered IDE by Codeium (formerly Codeium Editor). Free tier: limited daily quotas for Cascade AI flows, code completions, AI chat (credit system replaced by quotas Mar 2026). Pro $20/mo, Teams $40/mo, Max $200/mo. SWE-1.5 Fast Agent model for faster iteration. Grandfathered Pro subscribers keep $15/mo indefinitely. All tiers include premium modelsThe page we cite for this offer does not name it when we last looked, on 2026-09-17, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

Pricing Change History

OpenAI Codex

restructured effective 2026-04-03 medium impact
Switched from per-seat subscription to pay-as-you-go token-based pricing. Teams can add Codex-only seats billed on token consumption with no rate limits. ChatGPT Business price cut from $25 to $20/month (annual). $100 credit per new Codex team member (up to $500/team, limited time) Source ↗

Windsurf

restructured effective 2026-04-13 medium impact
Windsurf Max plan ($200/mo) confirmed as power-user tier alongside Teams ($40/mo/seat). SWE-1.5 Fast Agent model announced for faster iteration. Full tier lineup: Free (limited daily quotas), Pro ($20/mo), Teams ($40/mo), Max ($200/mo). Source ↗
restructured effective 2026-04-01 low impact
Grandfathered Pro pricing ($15/mo) confirmed indefinite. Credit system fully replaced by daily/weekly quotas for all plans. Source ↗
restructured effective 2026-03-19 medium impact
Windsurf replaced credits-based pricing with daily/weekly quotas (Mar 19, 2026). New tiers: Pro $20/mo (was $15), Ultimate $40/mo, Team $200/mo/seat. Free tier changed from flexible credits to hard quotas. Existing Pro subscribers grandfathered at $15/mo Source ↗

Watch Both Vendors for Pricing Changes

We do not push notifications. Every change we record is readable the moment it lands, and the JSON answer carries an ETag — send it back as If-None-Match and an unchanged answer costs one 304.

curl https://agentdeals.dev/api/changes?vendor=OpenAI%20Codex curl https://agentdeals.dev/pricing-changes/feed.xml?vendor=OpenAI%20Codex curl https://agentdeals.dev/api/changes?vendor=Windsurf curl https://agentdeals.dev/pricing-changes/feed.xml?vendor=Windsurf

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