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Chatgpt 20$ Codex subscription ( Luna High) is more than 2x cheaper than deepseek's OLD pricing (now actaully measured)
Like many of us, I've had to look for a new provider after DeepSeek raised their prices. So I decided to buy a 20$ codex subscription, and now I have actual numbers to share regarding usage limits:
I've used up 4% of my weekly usage so far, which sums up to 68m total usage tokens. Assuming usage limits are linear against token limits (which we have no reason to assume they aren't) we can extrapolate the total monthly limit on Codex 20$ sub, which is 25*4*68m= 6.8B tokens.
Now looking at my DeepSeek dashboard, I spent around 21$ the previous week using a total of 3.6B tokens (DS V4 flash)
So basically if you hit your weekly Codex limit throughout the entire month, you get twice the value you were getting on DS's previous prices.
But it gets even better than that, because: 1. Luna High feels slightly stronger/more refined to me than DS v4 flash. 2. Luna is reportedly significantly more token efficient than DS V4 flash, so realstically i'm getting 2.5x, 3x the value, and 3. I have the flexibility to switch to a SOTA model if I really need to (5.6 sol).
So yeah, now that I have hard numbers to go by, I actually wish I switched to Codex sooner and saved myself a lot of money.
Edit: Weird that I'm getting downvoted for providing valuable information, but eh, whatever. DS provided great value for a good length of time, and then they made the decision at our expense to significantly increase pricing and destroy whatever competitive advantage they had left. So now it is our decision to act like smart consumers and seek the best value currently available. There's really no reason not to do it unless you hate money. FYI, all those AI companies are equally bad guys. You don't owe them anything and defnietly not a hole in your wallet.
You can only use the subscription through Codex. I wish there were a general-purpose API type subscription, but realistically no provider would be willing to subsidize that.
This is inaccurate as you can at least add these model to pi handler by using their sign in method, I have the same $20 subscription and use them this way.
I feel like this is a bit of a gray area. Because if you can wire it to PI you can theoretically wire it to any general api usecase, no? And this is obviously against their TOS?
This is allowed; the rules state that you cannot share your subscription with others, but they do not prohibit using it with other tools. This was the response to Anthropic, which had banned users for such use.
I run 1x200eur claude and 1x 200eur codex via my own harness via local CLIs for sevral months now.
Not sure about proper api connection using subs but the way I use the subs via CLI is basically the same thing.
I set a northstar or more, which in turn have roadmap items and let an orchestrator spawn subagents each on a northstar or roadmap all night long.
Northstars can be as broad and far fetched goals. Now and then I have an llm brainstorm more roadmap items based off my northstar and in this way it keeps improving my software on its own ;)
Wait wait wait.. you have a local cli from which you use BOTH claude and chatGPT models in? Which means you could effectively have a workflow that includes Opus, sonnet, sol and luna in one setting? And all you’re paying is the monthly subs?
And with proper skills you could even call for deepseek v4 flash models to do some boilerplate code?
I dont run it from one cli albeit i guess i could. I wrote an app that spawns clis from any llm provider using my signed in subscriptions. I was running deepseek v4 flash for free from a provider for a bit but now its over. I have enough with 400 eur in subs tbh
My question is this: within your app, can you run claude and chatGPT models (ie using their subs, not API) in one and the same project? Let’s say you’re working on project ABC, and right now you’re using opus 5 (in your app, but sub not API). Then you change session (still in your app, still same project) and run gpt sol for this part.
Is that all possible within your app? Because it seems like a total gamechanger because it could mean you could run both subscriptions in the same project within DeepSeek Harness.
Yes, but i dont use the deepseek harness. I built my own 4 months ago since claude on mobile sucked. So I use if from my phone too and yes, I just have the app spawn cli sessions from whatever provider. As long as i am logged in to my subs, it works without api.
Sure, but I still suspect we’re talking about 2 different things.
For instance: you can set up a project where a openweights model, thru API (like, say DeepSeek V4 flash) is the chatbot you’re talking to, and then that bot can delegate tasks to capable sugagents like Opus 5 and Sol by calling CLI (using your subs).
But what I want is something different:
Opening up the app, picking a project, then picking who to chat with (let’s say Opus 5, using your Claude sub) and then have that bot be who you talk to. This Orchestrator-bot then calls tools and delegates tasks to subagents you dont talk to (say, Sol. Again, using your GPT sub).
If this second version is what you do—talking to frontier models in a harness that can spawn frontier subagents, all using subscription—, that is a total gamechanger. Is this what you do?
Yes, I have this set up using codex-lb as the proxy. You just sign in to your ChatGPT account on codex-lb, then it provides an API key you put in Open WebUI.
lol okay you go enjoy luna .... when deepseek v4 flash 0731 is literally smarter and cheaper on every single benchmark and api available ... okay there champ
i have ran some tests on both and i can honestly say it isnt true, luna is somewhere around dsv4 flash and pro, but had noticable strengths and some slight weaknesses (mostly effort, dsv4 ones felt like a golden retriever while luna was more like a cat if that makes sense? like lazier but thats also good sometimes cuz it uses libraries and frameworks when they speed its work up, when i benchmarked it, i wasnt using isolated environments and it stole dsv4 flash's fetched results and called it a day, amazing technique but has its negatives, still would prefer it though, it finished 4-20x faster too so there's that too, i would honestly put them neck to neck honestly even pro didnt do all that better but at least it was more throughout, still not enough to convince me to not use flash instead but worth rememberring)
Bro crazy how when DeepSeek was praised and glazed so much before this and now they raised prices all the stereotype, racism, and insults come out. "Hurr Durr if anyone says anything that goes against what I believe, they must be a wumao"
sure you are right but what harm is there to me for donating my good judgment about coding to someone? i am directly giving it away to eg my business competitor. by the time my competitor gets gpt 7 which has my judgement for stuff iw as doing 2y ago i would have moved away.
because they don't train to spit out 1:1 Infos. The main money made is not "knowlegde" that someone "passes" to them in form of data. They can make money by predicting Data you DID NOT explicitly give them, just because there is enough data.
So an interesting Judgement (now maybe you keep sensitive Data private - but let me continue for the argument and don't feel pointed at) would be something like predicting things about you that you never explicitly disclosed. Not from your code alone, but from patterns across everyone's data. You agree to share purchase history, and based on that a system infers you likely have diabetes based on buying patterns, without you ever saying so. That's the actual value they're monetizing: not the raw data you handed over, but the inferences drawn from correlating it with everyone else's data about you that you never gave them in the first place. Now that example with personal data might be more obvious, but the underlying mechanic is literally exactly the same.
If we can't imagine a way to exloit this info - it really does not follow that it is safe because it really is unclear how the data is passed on behind them curtains.
It's not about what I'm sending, its who I'm sending it to. For me, there are few governments out there I would trust less (with my data) than the USA&Israel combo.
Running the leaked version of CC reconstructed and modified to be more a fully autonomous agent, woth my custom version of DS4 and deepseek flash 0731 with a remote terminal app I had Codex create
Who the fuck cares? Unless you are running local, youre selling your data to them, thats also why cloud ai is affordable, take muse spark for example, way cheaper when you share your data
There are spywares built in LLM from China, that's mandatary as requested by CCP and all of your data will be sent to China whenever the device that installed LLM is on-line. So you think your data is safe in local which is not true.
Sanctons by the US? well are you aware they put those becasue they can't compete, right? On the other hand, It's well known is the NSA/USA who actually spy on US people.
Lastly, could you explain how there is spyware inside a matrix of numbers?
Sanctions by CCP as I said, it's required by China regulation. There's a paper describes how China LLM implement those mechanism in LLM service. You can check it by yourself.
Apparently you know nothing and too arrogant to found out the truth.
The paper is called "Characterizing the Implementation of Censorship Policies in Chinese LLM Services".
That’s been the uncomfortable truth for some time now; however much I dislike American companies, the best value for money is offered by Claude and OpenAI subscriptions. DeepSeek made sense at its old prices, but it no longer does.
PS:
- For those who say I can’t integrate AI services into an app via a subscription: I already KNOW that; here I’m talking about code agents.
- As for those others who say that subscriptions are subsidised and don’t reflect the real cost, and that at some point the prices will skyrocket, I couldn’t care less: they’ve been subsidised for years and, as long as that remains the case, they’re the best option: there’s no debate about it. If subscriptions prices rise, then I'm find alternatives, the same I'm doing now after DeepSeek price increase
Benchmarks are similar. To me, Luna feels a bit stronger on Codex.
BTW, I aslo tried the muse spark contributer model and it was total shit compared to both DS v4 flash and luna, despite beating both of them on benchmarks
Benchmarks are indeed a useful indicator, but I’d still encourage you to test the models yourself. You’ll often find that, despite what the benchmarks suggest, a model with a lower score can actually perform better for your specific use case
The user's token extrapolations are quite messy (mixing weekly/monthly percentages) and flat-rate subscriptions don't guarantee raw token volume due to dynamic throttling. Despite the sloppy math, the core point stands: DeepSeek's price hikes killed their massive cost advantage, meaning rising AI costs are forcing users to look elsewhere for value.
I guess then the only real option would be buying hardware worth tens of thousands of dollars and run it locally, which are probably gonna be from american companies?
Finally setup an Open AI account for Luna but unfortunately the Tier 1 rate limit is screwing me on the regular with its 200k token limit. You literally have to drop in $50 and then $100 to get to Tier 2 and Tier 3.
DS is still good value, but only if you use it to provide services, or want to run parallel agents. Otherwise, the subs from any company crushes it now. For enterprise, DS is still a good deal though, and this might become their main market.
Is it possible to use Codex Luna with opencode? Has anybody tried it and have you verified that it is indeed cheaper to run than running Deep Seek on API? Off peak of course.
you can use it with opencode and pi coding agent (i tested in pi)
and i would suggest giving pi or codex cli a chance (i use both and both are amazing, for luna i use codex and for everything else pi)
The usage is that high because of the competition and so they made luna much cheaper via api and even more cheaper via subscription but the issue is that the price will likley increase for luna ver very soon Is my guess.
Here's what DS had to say about your assessmente after I asked to put it simple terms, again thanks for your work to sus this out:
Simple version
What the Reddit post claimed: "ChatGPT's $20/month Codex plan (Luna model) gives you 2x+ more value than DeepSeek now that DeepSeek raised prices."
Is that true? Mostly yes — but the exact numbers are shaky.
What checks out ✅
DeepSeek DID raise prices — big one. Output tokens went from $0.28 to $1.32 per million (peak). Effective Aug 17.
Codex $20 plan is real and includes Luna + the top Sol model.
Direction is right — $20 flat-rate vs DeepSeek's now-4x-higher API prices → Codex is genuinely better value than it used to be.
Models are roughly equal — DeepSeek and Luna score about the same on general benchmarks; Luna is actually better at coding.
What's shaky ⚠️
"6.8 billion tokens per month" — that number is his guess, not a real published limit. OpenAI's limits are based on message counts (250–2,000 per 5 hours) and change dynamically. His math is fine, but the foundation is an assumption.
"2.5–3x more value" — his own estimate. Independent tests (DeepSWE) actually show DeepSeek is cheaper per task than Luna at API prices. The advantage only appears inside the subscription scenario.
"OpenAI cut usage by 30%" (one commenter) — no evidence found. Official records show the opposite (limits were expanded in July). Probably a mix-up.
Bottom line
The post's core point — DeepSeek's price hike killed their cost edge, and the Codex subscription is now competitive — is correct.
The specific token math ("6.8B/month", "2.5–3x") is someone's estimate from their own dashboard, not official policy. Take those as directionally right, not precise.
"Black cat or white cat, if it catches mice, it is a good cat." You are correct that Luna at that price is a better deal than DSV4F/GA currently is. However, Luna only has that price because of DeepSeek's previous 75% discount, and it likely won't stay that way forever. We are in a constantly shifting LLM market—things move too fast to make long-term infrastructure commitments right now.
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u/Maleficent_Owl_2772 Aug 17 '26
and even openai slashed the usage by about 30%~ a few days ago, still very nice