Cursor vs Claude Code vs Codex: pricing and limits
Compare individual plan prices, included usage and model access, with measured coding value from tokenusage.dev on Claude Pro and ChatGPT Plus.
Is Cursor cheaper than Claude Code or Codex?
Cursor's current individual plans are part of The X Subscription. Paid plans include a weekly pool for Cursor's own models, shared across Cursor and Grok. Claude and GPT models have no included allowance; Premium and above bill them at API list price from prepaid credit. Cursor models and pricing
Claude Code is included with Claude Pro and Max, whose five-hour session limits and weekly limits are shared with Claude. Codex is included with ChatGPT plans; Plus has a five-hour usage window, Pro plans currently have no five-hour limit, and weekly limits may also apply. The cited plan rules publish no token allowance. Claude pricing, Claude Code with Pro or Max, OpenAI pricing
For Claude or GPT models, compare value at API list prices per dollar. Cursor Premium and above bill that usage at API list price from prepaid credit, on top of the subscription price. Cursor's included weekly pool covers Cursor's own models, and the cited plan rules describe its size only relative to Plus. Claude Pro and ChatGPT Plus include usage through Claude Code and Codex. tokenusage.dev estimates the API list-price value of a full weekly limit from measured coding runs: see the measured coding figures below. Cursor pricing, Cursor models and pricing, Claude pricing, OpenAI pricing
Measured coding value on the $20 plans
tokenusage.dev ran ten-turn simulated coding sessions through Codex on ChatGPT Plus and Claude Code on Claude Pro. Each weekly figure extrapolates one measured run to a full weekly limit; the home page Coding cards use the same runs and calculations.
| Plan | Model | Tokens per week | At API prices, a month | Value / plan price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Plus (Codex) | GPT-6.1 Sol | 52M | $200 | 10× its price |
| ChatGPT Plus (Codex) | GPT-6 Astra | 18M | $310 | 15× its price |
| ChatGPT Plus (Codex) | GPT-6 Luna | 770M | $160 | 7.9× its price |
| Claude Pro | Opus 5.5 | 74M | $990 | 49× its price |
| Claude Pro | Sonnet 5.5 | 110M | $720 | 36× its price |
| Claude Pro | Haiku 5.5 | > 1.0B | > $300 | > 15× its price |
tokenusage.dev has not measured Cursor. Cursor Premium and above bill Claude and GPT models at API list price from prepaid credit, with no included allowance for them. Cursor pricing, Cursor models and pricing
Each row estimates one model using a full weekly limit every week; rows are alternatives and should not be added together. A > prefix means more than the displayed figure. Figures use two significant figures.
Cursor, Claude Code and Codex plan rules
| Rule | Cursor | Claude Code | Codex |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans and monthly prices | The X Subscription: Free $0; Plus $8; Premium $30; Super $100; Ultra $200 per month. Third-party model usage is purchased separately. Prices exclude tax. Cursor pricing, Cursor models and pricing | Claude Pro $20; Max 5x $100; Max 20x $200 per month with monthly billing. Claude pricing, What is the Max plan? | ChatGPT Free $0; Go $8; Plus $20; Pro $100, $200 or $500 per month. OpenAI pricing, About ChatGPT Pro tiers |
| Annual billing | Plus $80; Premium $300; Super $1,000; Ultra $2,000 per year. Cursor models and pricing | Pro: $17 a month billed annually ($200 up front). Max: monthly billing only. Claude pricing, What is the Max plan? | ChatGPT Pro is billed monthly; annual billing and prepayment for multiple months are unavailable. About ChatGPT Pro tiers |
| Models and access | Free and Plus do not include third-party models. Premium and above offer Claude and GPT at API list price from the first request, using prepaid credit. Cursor models and pricing | Claude Code is included with Pro and Max. Fable 5 and Fable 5.1 require usage credits on Pro; Max includes them for up to 50% of the weekly limit. Claude pricing, Fable models on your plan | Free and Go: GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app (on Free, subject to rollout). Plus and Pro: GPT-6.1 Sol; Plus also lists GPT-6 Luna. OpenAI pricing, OpenAI models |
| Included usage and limits | Paid plans have a weekly pool for Cursor's own models, shared across Cursor and Grok. Premium, Super and Ultra list 4, 15 and 50 times Plus usage. Cursor models and pricing | Pro and Max have five-hour session limits and weekly limits shared across Claude and Claude Code. Anthropic describes Max 5x and Max 20x as five and 20 times Pro's per-session allowance. Max also has a separate weekly Fable limit. What is the Max plan?, Claude Code with Pro or Max | Plus has a five-hour usage window; Pro plans currently have no five-hour limit. Weekly limits may also apply. Local messages and cloud chats share the plan allowance; ChatGPT Work and Codex share usage. OpenAI pricing |
| Published token allowance | None listed in the cited plan rules. Cursor models and pricing | None listed in the cited plan rules. Claude pricing, What is the Max plan? | None listed in the cited plan rules. OpenAI publishes estimates of local messages per five-hour period for Plus. OpenAI pricing |
| Buying more usage | Prepaid credit pays for third-party models from the first request and Cursor models beyond the weekly pool. A monthly additional usage limit caps paid usage. Cursor models and pricing | Usage credits let paid plans continue at standard API rates after a session or weekly limit. Usage credits | Plus and Pro can buy credits after reaching their limit. Extra local chats can also use an API key, charged at standard API rates. OpenAI pricing |
Can I use Claude Code or Codex in Cursor?
Claude Pro and Max cover Claude Code in Cursor. Sign in with the same Claude credentials used in the terminal; IDE usage counts toward the same Claude and Claude Code limits. Claude Code with Pro or Max
The Codex IDE extension supports Cursor. ChatGPT Plus includes Codex in the IDE extension. Codex IDE extension, OpenAI pricing
What about Cursor's older plans?
Existing customers can keep legacy Cursor Pro ($20 a month), Pro+ ($60 a month) and Ultra ($200 a month). These plans include an Other Models pool for third-party models, drawn down at each model's API price. The cited legacy page publishes no dollar or token size for that pool. New customers start on The X Subscription. Legacy Cursor plans
How the comparison works
The "At API prices" figure is what a full weekly limit, used every week, would cost a month at API list prices. The quota estimate comes from measured weekly-meter movement; API prices value the token mix tokenusage.dev recorded. An actual API bill or saving can differ. These figures cannot determine a Cursor bill for the same task, session or week.
OpenAI says, "API token prices are separate from subscription usage; don’t use them to estimate included tasks." OpenAI pricing
Read how the numbers work for the method and its limits, or inspect the Coding cards on the home page. Use the plan calculator to apply your own weekly percentage. For full plan rules, read Claude Pro vs Max and Codex pricing.
tokenusage.dev is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Cursor, OpenAI or Anthropic.