Amp vs OpenAI Codex (2026)

Amp

by Amp Frontier Corporation

OpenAI Codex

by OpenAI

Pros

• ✓Each thread can run in a cloud orb set up with the project's code, tools and plugins, so agents keep working after the laptop closes, and threads can be started or followed from the web, Mac, iPhone or the CLI.
• ✓Multi-model by design: four modes route work across OpenAI, Anthropic and fast models, and on Hobby, Individual and Teams developers can bring a ChatGPT subscription or their own keys with no Amp token fees.
• ✓Team features come at no extra charge, including shared threads, multiplayer, shared portals, plugins and skills and pooled credits, and a GitHub App lets agents open pull requests and read CI status.

Limitations

• ⚠Model usage beyond a tier's included credits is paid separately, through the developer's own provider subscription or keys or through Amp credits at provider API prices, and purchased credits expire after twelve months.
• ⚠Paid tiers are billed monthly and orb time is metered by the minute: Megawatt's 45,000 minutes go faster on larger orbs, and the largest orb size is limited to Gigawatt and Enterprise.
• ⚠SCIM, audit logs, IP allowlisting and regional endpoints are on the quote-based Enterprise tier, and SAML or OIDC SSO needs at least one workspace member on a paid tier.

Pros

• ✓One agent spans the ChatGPT desktop app, the open-source Codex CLI, IDE extensions for VS Code, Cursor and Windsurf, native Xcode and JetBrains integrations, and Codex cloud on the web and iOS.
• ✓Codex reviews GitHub pull requests and GitLab merge requests on request or automatically, and a GitHub Action, the Codex SDK and codex exec bring it into CI and scripted workflows.
• ✓Parallel tasks in separate worktrees, subagents, Skills, plugins, MCP servers and scheduled tasks let Codex take on longer and repeated work, with GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna on Plus and above.

Limitations

• ⚠Codex usage is metered against plan limits shared with ChatGPT Work, and the number of messages varies with the model, task size and context, so heavy users on Plus may need credits or a Pro plan.
• ⚠OpenAI removed the Codex MCP server on September 5, 2026, so other assistants can no longer call Codex over MCP, although Codex still connects out to external MCP servers.
• ⚠The Codex documentation covers GitHub and GitLab and does not mention Bitbucket, and Codex run with an API key excludes the cloud features such as GitHub code review and Slack.