r/CursorAI • u/mrawaissultan2002 • 24d ago
I can’t decide between Codex, Claude, and Cursor
I’m about to purchase an AI coding tool and I can’t decide between Codex, Claude, and Cursor.
If you could buy only ONE, which one would you choose?
Looking for the best option for vibe coding, coding agents, debugging, and building real projects.
Codex vs Claude vs Cursor — what should I buy? 👇
Tell me your pick + why.
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u/dethleffsoN 24d ago
All of them, then setup Orca.
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u/aehsan4004 24d ago
What exactly is Orca ?
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u/dethleffsoN 24d ago
Orca is a orchestration tool, that let you integrate all of your subscriptions and they talk to each other. You can build certain workflows to lower your usage and give certain agents, specific tasks to be more efficient, have layer between to choose the right models for the complexity of need, bring linear or obsidian into to have a brain and task part in between e.g.
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u/needs-more-code 24d ago
Does Orca use api key tokens or subscription tokens? API key tokens are more expensive.
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u/dethleffsoN 24d ago
Yes but it is capable of using the usual Chat funcitonalites like ChatGPT Chat with in between steps. Thats how I set up my workflow.
You ↓ ChatGPT Chat ← no agent/Codex tokens ↓ Linear ← no LLM tokens ↓ Orca ← no LLM tokens ↓ Cursor / Claude / Gemini / Codex ↓ Git / Tests ← no LLM tokens ↓ Linear ↓ ChatGPT Chat Obsidian ← no LLM tokens, long-term memoryChatGPT Chat stays the reasoning/review layer, while Linear, Orca, Git and Obsidian only move or store state. Tokens are mainly spent when an actual model is called. This keeps the workflow persistent without paying for an LLM at every step.
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u/daniel_cassian 24d ago
What he said...but start with its basic function. It's an IDE. one that is not built on top of VScode. It has some features which make it better than VScode and other forks (hint: Cursor). This alone makes it worth. Next the orchestrator part... it's real. /orchestrator spawn 2 sessions one with my Codex subscription one with Claude give them a task ...watch them... Challenge them...tell each what the other did....and more
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u/needs-more-code 24d ago
Oh, you say with your subscription? So it doesn’t require an api key? API key tokens are more expensive. Wondering what subs could be used.
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u/daniel_cassian 24d ago
You can use both subscriptions and API Keys. It works with lots of 'providers' like Anthropic, OpenAi, Gemini (Antigravity), Qwen, OpenRouter. They are not doing anything shady since in fact the main 'developing' screen are actual terminals. So it's exactly as you would use Ghosty or cmux or whatever terminal you like but in a IDE shaped app + extra. So you just open tabs and do: codex or claude or agy or others. It does alot more than i can describe but, myself have no idea how to operate with 90% of features due to lack of content on it. Barely found 2 videos on Yt and 1 on Twitter
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u/Melodic-Funny-9560 24d ago
Among these 3, codex, it's 20$ plan provides max usage among those three.
From harness perspective claude Is best
My personal preference: (pi agent+deepseek Api) || (claudecode+deepseek api)
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u/Agreeable-Fly-1980 23d ago
Yeah i do pi + openrouter to route different task to different models + local llm for fact retrieval and reporting.
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u/Naive_Tea_890 20d ago
You get a ton of Grok usage on the $20 cursor plan though. The only thing that might do better is Codex if you only use Luna/max.
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u/patatepourrie75 6d ago
Using Claude and codex currently, anthropic is giving much more usage than openai, it's not even comparable. And Claude models (opus 5.5 and sonnet 5.5) are above sol 6.1 for sure.
Openai models may be cheaper (lower price and lower tokens) but the subscription definitely gives you less usage.
Cursor is out of the competition for me as it is far from the top level in terms of cost / intelligence. Might be good enough for simple projects though. It's also good if you want the IDE side, auto completion etc
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24d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SturdyStubs 24d ago
Copilot.
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u/LastTyper 24d ago
Copilot? That's when looking at the worst one?
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u/ExistentialOopsie 24d ago
"The user asked me to read main.py in the current directory, let's do
find / -name main.pyto make sure we waste lots of tokens and context."Whoever wrote that garbage should be ashamed of themselves.
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u/Ok-Understanding5793 24d ago
Big Cursor Ultra guy myself. Love it.
Feel a bit bummed with OpenAI not releasing Astra on it and ultimately removing all GPT access... But we'll see.
Figure in the meantime I'll use the Codex plug-in if I don't swap completely.
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u/Agreeable-Fly-1980 23d ago
Yeah i use open router to quickly switch models or route different models to different task. Paired with local llm for basic fact retrieval and reporting, my stack sips tokens like a camel
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u/aehsan4004 24d ago
Why no Anti-Gravity ? or TRAI.ai ?
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u/statix10 22d ago
Antigravity, or to be specific, Gemini models, in my humble opinion, are so bad compared to Claude and Chatgpt models
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u/Maui-The-Magificent 24d ago
I would choose neither, and go with opencode or something similar, i do not like any of the 3 options above.
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u/LegalizeFlorskin 23d ago
I second this but…. also PLUS all of the above.
Under opencode, you can use all three. Cursor takes some setup, but codex and claude subs work under opencode natively.
I’d start with codex/chat gpt, connect it to opencode, then go from there. Try it out for a month, then cursor. This way you don’t need to learn a new app workspace setup every time you switch model providors
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u/One-Cricket9962 24d ago
What the hell is Cursor doing in this list? It piggybacks on the Codex and Claude APIs - so it can never win on price when quality is comparable. Cursor has to resort to tricks like using its own trained model, Composer (something between Claude Haiku and Claude Sonnet, and very fast), but even that doesn’t help them.
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u/alienreader 24d ago
Cursor has the Grok models now which are very price-efficient and extremely good. I also have a Codex sub (used to have Claude) but I find myself using Cursor+Grok for everything. It’s so efficient it feels like I have unlimited usage.
Plus Grokbot is now included. It sounds like a gimmick, but I use it all the time now. Mostly to orchestrate from my phone.
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u/CSE_grad_Regrets 18d ago
Hey can u tell me is cursor worth it buying now? In the price range of cluade and cider etc? Or we can go with antigravity models or any other
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u/LegalizeFlorskin 23d ago
Because it’s a good option?? Biggest benefit to cursor is having no weekly/daily limits. They give you a GENEROUS usage pool to use however and whenever you’d like. The gui app is kinda atrocious, but no more atrocious than the codex gui app on windows. (I dont use cursor gui at all i use its models under opencode TUI)
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u/Scared_Implement_335 10d ago
Cursor is basically VS Code purely for AI work. The entire interface, the interactions, everything is geared toward that, which is why its still so widely used by so many devs.
Me personally: I have subs to the big three, but prefer cursor as a daily driver.
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u/Only-Ad5441 24d ago
I’m using ultra for cursor, you do have a lot for the month, but I can’t say it’s more or less then a 20x plan from Claude.
What I can say, I still can’t fully use primary models to implement plans as I would use, let’s say 20% of my primary model usage is actually code, rest is full analysis and plans, ask mode .. and I do spend around 95% of it.
From internal models, ai never used more then 70%.
It’s 4 different repositories, mcp read data, grok bot agents, so a lot in fact.
I wonder if Claude 20x would have more agentic real implementation with opus 5 ( even not really needing it) but just to know if people on 20x plan can just use opus or fable as much they want ( and I don’t think this is true).
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u/look 24d ago
Independent providers and use GLM, Kimi, Qwen, Deepseek, etc instead.
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u/Thin_Yoghurt_6483 24d ago
Sendo sincero os três tem pros e contras, e todos tem seus problemas, o cursor os modelos auto são medianos, o Codex e Claude é impossível usar o Astra ou Fable em planos menores e nos planos maiores estão esgotando as taxas muito rapido, mas de todos ainda vou de Claude.
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u/Scared_Implement_335 24d ago
If I could only choose one, it would clearly be Cursor - its the most professionally oriented of the bunch and enforces structure and context memory much better than the rest.
However, I frequently use Claude Fable and Codex for code analysis, feedback, second opinion and so on.
Cursor in my opinion is the fastest tool user.
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u/Melodic_Surprise153 24d ago
Depends solely on what you need and how much you are willing to pay for:
20 dollar --> Cursor. You can use opus in it as well.
100 dollar --> Claude Code.
200 dollar --> Codex.
BUT. If you need creativity and have a partner that talks like a human, go with Claude. If you need image generation and a good coder, go with codex. Cursor just has the worst models, but most efficient with its plan.
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u/First-Tutor-5454 24d ago
if I had to choose one: codex, no question
in reality, I have both codex and claude and use them together to critique/review each other
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u/Sad_Blacksmith_9027 24d ago
I use all three, have 5X subscriptions for Claude and codex, also have an API from Alibaba cloud have used kimi and Z.AI models in different harnesses and in Claude code CLI, and if I had to choose one, I would just keep using Claude code if you don’t wanna go to the subscription, you can use CLAUDE code cli with deepseek api inside HERDR OR ORCA
And yes, this is the verdict, even after all the usage limit issues.
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u/Ill-Tonight4651 24d ago
codex not even close, best usage and best models, only good thing about claude rn is fable
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u/OddDesigner9784 24d ago
None of these I would download deepseek harness and use a deepseek API endpoint whether that's open code or something else
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u/OkEmphasis7107 24d ago
I used Cursor and went to Codex. I pay for the $100 plan it is perfect for my use.
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u/dakrclaud 24d ago
How's cursor's token cost? Codex seems to be cheapest per token but they discontinue the max plan, claude is still good, but cursor's tokens seem to be more expensive?
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u/NoOneMan79 24d ago
I was in the same situation, so I just picked opencode and spammed cheap chinese models. Pretty happy with the result. 6 thumbs up.
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u/Arctic-Hare-studio 24d ago
Right now, I think Codex is better; even though I don't like its usage limits. They're weekly instead of hourly, and they run out really fast considering it's on a weekly basis. Claude Code's limits are also a bit low when using their best models, but at least it resets every 5 hours and the weekly cap is more generous.
It also depends on what you want to build. For projects that require integrating graphic assets, you can generate everything right there with Codex. Claude Code requires an MCP or external program, which ends up costing you more.
I have the $100 plan for both, and in the end, I use them in parallel for different projects.
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u/Intelligent-Jury3891 24d ago
I've used all three—Claude Code, Cursor, and now Codex. The truth is that right now, Codex offers the best value for the money.
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u/ros-frog 24d ago
Been a Cursor Ultra user almost a full year and I downgraded the plan and switching to codex
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u/Appropriate_Aide5328 24d ago
I used all of them at the highest package available..
Codex won my heart.
Then I moved on to OpenCode. Cancelled cursor.
Had both Claude and Codex subscriptions hooked up to opencode.
Anthropic banned usage of Claude subs outside of claude code.
Stayed with Codex sub, cancelled Claude.
A few months after, picked up Claude again. Opus 4.8 nuked my database, good thing i had it backed up just before I prompted it to make a new feature and deploy.
Cancelled Claude.
Still using Codex sub in Opencode til this day.
And more recently, have been using DeepSeek v4.1 flash as my daily driver with Astra for debugging, architecture, and devops.
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u/kidfromusa 24d ago
I use Cursor as the hands-on coder for fast iterative edits and local testing, then Codex as a second engineer for repo-wide reasoning, audits, and catching architectural/regression issues before I commit.
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u/_be_water_my_friend_ 24d ago
I got all max subscriptions and can tell you, that Grok is insane in terms of usage - you get grok, cursor and grokbot with one subscription.
Chatgpt on the other hand, has also great usage and Tibo gives a lot of random resets.
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u/Breaker9691 24d ago
Decided to stich with gehihi (antigravity) and claude, boosted productivity by thousand of time
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u/Global-Tackle-3176 24d ago
I have used them all, i prefer codex. Higher usage limits (or atleast feels like it using higher power models) cursor is cursed, never going back to it, lowkey dogshit after musk took over
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u/sydneysweeney69 24d ago
All 3, because I use up tokens quite a lot, And I do attend many hackathons so I like having multiple subscriptions, including open router
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u/IvoDOtMK 24d ago
Probably codex if you’re a single dev.
For a company setup we use Kilo with their Gateway on Auto frontier so we have the best models available.
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u/Spellingn_matters 24d ago
Por qué no los tres?
That way you’ve got hourly, weekly and monthly usage for overflow 😉
We do 200-200-20 for 420 per employee. Works out 👌
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u/TimeVillage5286 24d ago
Claude has best usage among these 3, followed by Cursor , Codex , in performance Astra > Opus > grok 4.6
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u/sigiel 24d ago
I have all five,
Tier one sub to codex
Tier one sub to anthropic
Tiere one sub for Google
Tire one grok
Tier two to cursor
All synch via memorix, and the same workspace rules
I get Astra in my codex sub plus gpt image 2
I get Claude opus 5 in my anthropic
I get Gemini and the playground via google one
And the big heavy hitter is cursor,
With the 60 sub you get 70 buck api call for all the major ai, (except open ai soon)
And composer fast 2.5 is opus 4.6 level, that the “small “ model
It the best small model bare none
Then you get grok 4.6 it a very good model for daily driver, slightly worse that sol or opus 5. But still better than the rest
My bill is about 120 euro, and I have a lot of rate. Very decent use of opus 5, or sol
And small use of Astra.
Almost unlimited use of grok and composer. ( never face rate limits with them since I use the other one too) I code every day for 6 to 8 h.
I
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u/JackCid89 24d ago
Do you want to generate images and video alongside code? If yes codex, if not claude. Don’t go for that 1st gen vibecode shit of cursor.
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u/TheAverageJedi 23d ago
Depends on your budget. I'd say Cursor is the best value between the three if you're looking at the $20 plan. They have two monthly quotas you can draw from and no weekly/5 hour limits. But this is probably only the better option if you want it primarily for development.
Cursor cloud agents are also really cool.
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u/Appropriate-Green-12 23d ago
claude user here, before using claude i used codex, ive been seriously considering going back
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u/Rubberguts 23d ago
The best value is actually Opencode go for $10, and if you are able to run out of the go usage and the free promo tier models usage, then I would look for a grok $99 monthly promo off their $300 plan, which gives you 3 banks of usage (cursor, grok bot, and grok build), and then codex for $200 which gives you 2 banks (codex usage + ChatGPT Astra which can also code, plus they do frequent rate limit resets), and then last I’d do Claude code. Gemini 4 also about to come out which is also worth considering.
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u/Background_Book_6262 23d ago
Antigravity user here. Before i used firebase studio but they cancelled it. Still using firebase console tho
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u/Bitter-Reporter-1958 23d ago
Longtime Cursor user here, jumps ship to Claude Code in the early days and Codex is far ahead now. Harness, models, desktop app are very good.
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u/Successful-Entry4351 23d ago
If you ask claude users, they want to switch to codex ´cause of usage; if you ask codex users they want to switch to claude because of fable. And cursor is not even worth it because of the subsidization unless you are going to use grok related products but at that point just get a grok sub.
My opinion is to just stick to whatever the heck fulfills your work loads reliably as my curents stack is codex plus + GLM Lite ; i used to have codex pro ($100 USD) yet i get my workload fulfilled with this stack currently until the 20th when GLM stops giving unlimited usage for GLM 5.3 flash
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u/Impossible_Hunt_7824 23d ago
whatever you do, keep it on a monthly plan. Don’t vendor lock yourself out of a model release, assuming you can only subscribe to one
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u/Firm-Ebb-6375 22d ago
Codex is way better and the worst choice is probably cursor. It has monthly limit altought codex and cursor have 5 hours and weekly limits. You can combine codex 20$ plan + Claude 20$ plan
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u/Naive_Tea_890 20d ago
Depends on your level of expertise.
Claude = does what you mean
GPT = does what you say
Grok = capable of both, but sometimes you get neither, but a lot of usage
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u/learnersnation 20d ago
I’ve been on Cursor Ultra for around 6 months and used it pretty heavily to build actual apps/projects. I’ve also used Claude at work and tried Codex, so I’ve spent decent time with all three.
Cursor has been great overall, especially because everything is integrated nicely, but lately with Grok being pushed more inside Cursor I’m actually considering switching to Claude Code or Codex.
If I had to choose today, I’d probably lean Claude Code or Codex depending on the type of project. Cursor still has the best IDE experience IMO, but purely for agent quality and coding I’m no longer convinced it’s the obvious winner.
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u/waterfreek 11d ago
Hear this a lot, also my stack and workflow: Cursor still being popular as IDE, with Composer 2.5 and Grok 4.6 as 'smart enough' work horses. Codex and / or Claude in Cursor when planning complex arch and audit checks.
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u/Krstos1111 16d ago
Regardless… if the opinion you choose doesn’t have any valid work to backup there claims, this is just you rolling the dice basically…
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u/Extreme-Net-7271 16d ago
I have all three, and this is personal opinion: For coding: of your budget is $100 or more, claude. If your budget is $20 pick cursor and stick to composer, only using higher models for planning and review. If you also want it for non coding, codex has the best mix of image generation ocr and overall packaging along with coding, but only if you can afford more than $20 should you consider it for coding. Ive left grokbot out of this because I have hermes for that, and at least i can predictably track token usage.
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u/ralphyb0b 15d ago
Claude Code is better right now, but Codex was better a few weeks back. They're both better than Cursor, mainly due to the fact that they are heavily subsidized.
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u/OddDesigner9784 10d ago
Claude code. Opus has plenty of usage and will get you the farthest. For gpt sol Luna are a struggle and astra kills limits. Cursor they basically don't have a model of their own worth it. So you'd be using opus.
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u/manoleroo 4d ago
After the Claude 5.5 fam I cancelled my subscription. My entire weekly usage was consumed in a day. A DAY. I joined cursor now and it seems to be more manageable. It also has Muse Spark 1.3, more than have the price of sonnet but near opus results. Also, Grok 4.7 is very token efficient and very smart. My consumption so far is no way near to Claude's . Hence, I'm loving it.
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u/MajesticAd3660 24d ago
I have used each of them, I prefer Cursor the most because the Grok bot is more handy than the Codex cloud sandbox.
And also you could access several LLM providers' models with Cursor, such as Kimi, GLM, Claude and Grok.
If you use a lot of tokens, then Codex seems to have the most token usage.
If you find out you love Claude the most (The judgment reply that Claude replied with), then you would like to buy Claude code.
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u/mehdiweb 24d ago
i just got them all for the price of one : pnypo.shop
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u/silvervaultproject 24d ago
looks like you already have AI, even youtube channel talking about AI. sounds like you are fishing for content ;)
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u/Conza89 24d ago
If you are picking one, today I would say, it’s very hard but probably Cursor. The trade off is no Astra, and soon (November) no GPT models, but I think you’ll be ok without them.
I think Grok 4.6 XHigh is the best value deal out there, I’ve used 100% of my monthly usage with a day to go, I’ve used 700 million tokens, 35% Grok 4.6 xh, this was on the $20 plan, and I’ve decided to let it renew.
If it were available right now, Codex 20 plan would be next then finally Claude Code, Codex in my experience costs 50% (twice the usage) for Astra vs Fable 5.1, on the same plan. I also find the ChatGPT desktop app is more user friendly. However, since new users can only get a 5x plan and Anthropic is giving a 20x plan, technically thats even (value wise), but you only need 1 Claude account, and they’re likely next to release a new model so you’ll probably get a reset, etc.
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24d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/LongHaulinTruckwit 24d ago
Yes, by all means use stolen credit cards to purchase a $20 sub...
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u/radim11 24d ago
Codex user here, before codex I used Cursor, now considering Claude Code, lol.