Factory vs OpenAI Codex

Features, pricing, ratings, and pros and cons, side by side.

Factory

Agent-native software development platform where Droids handle full engineering tasks end to end

Paid

Visit website View details

OpenAI Codex

OpenAI's coding agent that writes, reviews and runs code from terminal, IDE, desktop or cloud

Freemium

Visit website View details

Verdict

Factory and OpenAI Codex are both Coding AI tools. OpenAI Codex scores higher in FinderAtlas's editorial review (8.5 vs 8.2 out of 10), led by ease of use and value for money. Only OpenAI Codex has a free plan or trial. Only OpenAI Codex is available on VS Code Extension and JetBrains Plugin.

Best overall

OpenAI Codex

Software developers
Engineering teams
Enterprise engineering organizations
Open-source maintainers

Choose Factory if

You want a tool built for delegating backlog tickets, automated pull request review, test generation, incident investigation and long-running refactors or migrations.
Covers the full delivery loop: implementation, review, testing, incident response and documentation.
Model independence, with a router and bring-your-own-key support for custom models.

Choose OpenAI Codex if

You want a tool built for delegating coding tasks to an agent.
Included with ChatGPT plans, with a free tier and an $8 Go tier.
Open-source CLI under the Apache-2.0 license.

Best value: OpenAI Codex
Best for beginners: Factory
Best for business: Factory

Features

19 features compared.

Droids
Factory
Available
OpenAI Codex
Not available
Droid CLI
Factory
Available
OpenAI Codex
Not available
Missions
Factory
Available
OpenAI Codex
Not available
Automations
Factory
Available
OpenAI Codex
Not available
Droid Computers
Factory
Available
OpenAI Codex
Not available
Model Independence
Factory
Available
OpenAI Codex
Not available
Human Approval Checkpoints
Factory
Available
OpenAI Codex
Not available
Analytics
Factory
Available
OpenAI Codex
Not available
Public API
Factory
Available
OpenAI Codex
Not available
Codex CLI
Factory
Not available
OpenAI Codex
Available
IDE extension
Factory
Not available
OpenAI Codex
Available
Desktop app
Factory
Not available
OpenAI Codex
Available
Cloud tasks
Factory
Not available
OpenAI Codex
Available
Code review
Factory
Not available
OpenAI Codex
Available
Non-interactive mode
Factory
Not available
OpenAI Codex
Available
MCP, skills and plugins
Factory
Not available
OpenAI Codex
Available
Subagents and web search
Factory
Not available
OpenAI Codex
Available
Session resume and images
Factory
Not available
OpenAI Codex
Available
Mobile remote control
Factory
Not available
OpenAI Codex
Available

Pricing

Plans as listed by each vendor. Check their sites for current prices.

Pricing model
Factory
Paid
OpenAI Codex
Freemium
Free plan
Factory
No
OpenAI Codex
Yes
Starting price
Factory
$20
OpenAI Codex
$0
Plans
Factory
6 plans
OpenAI Codex
7 plans

Factory plans

Pro
$20/month
Individual developers
- Desktop
- CLI and SDK access
- cloud and local background agents
- billing and usage stats
- agent-readiness dashboard
Plus
$100/month
Heavier individual usage
- Everything in Pro
- rolling rate limits about 5x Pro
- Droid Computers
Max
$200/month
Highest individual usage
- Everything in Plus
- rolling rate limits about 10x Pro
- early access to new features
Teams
$40/user/mo
Small teams of up to 10 seats
- Everything in Pro for the whole team
- centralized billing
- plus a $60/month base fee per team
Business
Custom/contact sales
Organizations needing security and admin controls
- SSO
- SAML/SCIM provisioning
- zero data retention
- audit logging
- model access controls
- org-level deny lists
- network policy
Enterprise
Custom/contact sales
Large enterprises
- Everything in Business
- unlimited team members
- dedicated compute
- on-premise options
- sub-organizations
- data residency
- SLAs

OpenAI Codex plans

Free
$0
Quick coding tasks
- GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app
- Subject to rollout
Go
$8/month
Lightweight coding tasks
- GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app
Plus
Most popular
$20/month
Focused coding sessions
- Web
- CLI
- IDE and iOS access
- Automatic code review and Slack
- GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna
- Can add credits
Pro
$100/month
Plans at $100, $200 or $500 per month
- Everything in Plus
- No five-hour limit currently
- Ultrafast mode on the $500 plan
Business
$25/user/mo
2 or more users; $20 per user per month when billed annually
- Desktop and mobile apps
- Larger cloud VMs
- Add-on credits
- SAML SSO and MFA
- No training on business data by default
Enterprise & Edu
Custom/user/mo
Contact sales
- Priority request processing
- SCIM
- EKM and RBAC
- User analytics
- Compliance API audit logs
- Retention and residency controls
API Key
Pay-as-you-go/usage
Billed at OpenAI API pricing
- Codex in the CLI
- SDK and IDE extension
- No cloud features
- Models depend on the API key

Our ratings

Scored out of 10 by the Finder Atlas editorial team. Last reviewed October 2026.

Factory: 8.2overall
OpenAI Codex: 8.5overall

Factory leads in 0 categories and OpenAI Codex in 2.

Ease of Use
OpenAI Codex leads by 0.5
Factory
7.8
OpenAI Codex
8.3
Feature Depth
Factory
9.0
OpenAI Codex
Not rated
Value for Money
OpenAI Codex leads by 0.5
Factory
7.5
OpenAI Codex
8.0
Performance & Speed
Factory
8.2
OpenAI Codex
Not rated
Documentation & Support
Factory
8.3
OpenAI Codex
Not rated
Code Generation
Factory
Not rated
OpenAI Codex
9.0
Agentic Autonomy
Factory
Not rated
OpenAI Codex
8.8
Ecosystem & Integrations
Factory
Not rated
OpenAI Codex
8.5

Scores weigh documented features, plan value, platform coverage, integrations and user feedback. A missing score means we have not rated that area yet.

Pros and cons

Factory

Pros

Covers the full delivery loop: implementation, review, testing, incident response and documentation.
Model independence, with a router and bring-your-own-key support for custom models.
Available in desktop, CLI, web and several IDEs, so work is not tied to one editor.
Enterprise controls including SSO, audit logging, zero data retention and on-premise options.
Public API and OpenAPI specification for building on top of the platform.

Cons

No free tier or trial is listed; the entry plan is $20 per month.
Usage limits are given only as multiples of Pro, so actual capacity is hard to estimate.
Business and Enterprise pricing is contact-sales only.
Droid Computers are limited to Plus and higher plans.

OpenAI Codex

Pros

Included with ChatGPT plans, with a free tier and an $8 Go tier
Open-source CLI under the Apache-2.0 license
Available in the terminal, VS Code-based editors, the ChatGPT desktop app and the cloud
Supports MCP, skills, plugins and subagents
API-key option lets teams pay at API rates instead of a subscription

Cons

Plus has message limits per five hours that vary widely by model
Cloud features are not available on the API Key plan
Higher usage needs Pro, which starts at $100 per month
Free and Go plans offer only GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app

Platforms

Web
Factory
Supported
OpenAI Codex
Supported
Windows
Factory
Supported
OpenAI Codex
Supported
macOS
Factory
Supported
OpenAI Codex
Supported
iOS
Factory
Not supported
OpenAI Codex
Not supported
Android
Factory
Not supported
OpenAI Codex
Not supported
API
Factory
Supported
OpenAI Codex
Supported
Browser Extension
Factory
Not supported
OpenAI Codex
Not supported
Linux
Factory
Supported
OpenAI Codex
Supported
CLI
Factory
Supported
OpenAI Codex
Supported
VS Code Extension
Factory
Not supported
OpenAI Codex
Supported
JetBrains Plugin
Factory
Not supported
OpenAI Codex
Supported

Integrations

Factory

11 integrations

Slack
Microsoft Teams
Jira
Linear
GitHub
GitLab
VS Code
Cursor
Windsurf
JetBrains IDEs
Zed

OpenAI Codex

8 integrations

GitHub
Slack
Visual Studio Code
Cursor
Windsurf
Xcode
JetBrains IDEs
MCP

Company

Company
Factory
Factory
OpenAI Codex
Not listed
Founded
Factory
2023
OpenAI Codex
Not listed
Headquarters
Factory
San Francisco, CA
OpenAI Codex
Not listed
Monthly users
Factory
Not listed
OpenAI Codex
4M+ weekly users
Listing
Factory
Claimed
OpenAI Codex
Not claimed

Featured Coding AI

Picked by our editors. Not paid placement.

Frequently asked questions

Is Factory better than OpenAI Codex?

It depends on your workflow. Factory is built for delegating backlog tickets, automated pull request review, test generation, incident investigation and long-running refactors or migrations. OpenAI Codex is built for delegating coding tasks to an agent.

What are the key feature differences between Factory and OpenAI Codex?

Factory: Agent-native software development platform where Droids handle full engineering tasks end to end. OpenAI Codex: OpenAI's coding agent that writes, reviews and runs code from terminal, IDE, desktop or cloud.

Does Factory or OpenAI Codex have a free plan?

OpenAI Codex has a free plan or trial; Factory is paid only.

Which is cheaper, Factory or OpenAI Codex?

Factory starts at $20 and OpenAI Codex starts at $0. See the pricing table above for what each tier includes.

Verdict

Best overall

Choose Factory if

Choose OpenAI Codex if

Features

Pricing

Factory plans

Pro

Plus

Max

Teams

Business

Enterprise

OpenAI Codex plans

Free

Go

Plus

Pro

Business

Enterprise & Edu

API Key

Our ratings

Ease of Use

Feature Depth

Value for Money

Performance & Speed

Documentation & Support

Code Generation

Agentic Autonomy

Ecosystem & Integrations

Pros and cons

Factory

Pros

Cons

OpenAI Codex

Pros

Cons

Platforms

Integrations

Factory

OpenAI Codex

Company

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