TokenskatesHow we compare Compare coding agents.
Find the AI tools worth paying for.
U.S. web pricing · USD unless noted. Selections reset on reload.
OpenAI
Codex
ChatGPT Plus
USD · U.S. web · individual · monthly
View official planOfficial fact1 source+
Plus monthly U.S. web price; API usage is separate.
Anthropic
Claude Code
Claude Pro
USD · U.S. web · individual · monthly; annual option $200 upfront
View official planOfficial fact1 source+
Free excludes Claude Code; Pro and team prices; Enterprise base seat fee plus usage; education inventory.
At a glance
The case for it. And the catch.
A paid start for focused sessions; high-cost models can exhaust the allowance.
Our take1 source+
Current Codex plan mapping, usage tables, model-dependent consumption and credits. Undated live documentation.
Start paid Claude Code work; chat and coding share limited capacity.
Our take1 source+
Shared Claude/Code limits, usage-credit overage and separate API billing.
Usage & limits
What your subscription actually buys.
Expanded Codex usage; limited Astra access.
Official fact1 source+
Current Codex plan mapping, usage tables, model-dependent consumption and credits. Undated live documentation.
Shared local/cloud usage; weekly limits may apply.
Official fact1 source+
Current Codex plan mapping, usage tables, model-dependent consumption and credits. Undated live documentation.
At a limit: wait for the displayed reset, or use eligible credits/reset options.
Official fact1 source+
The account notice governs available windows and options. Consumption varies with model, context, reasoning and tools.
CLI, IDE, local/cloud permissions, overage choices and account-dependent reset offers.
Includes Claude Code, with more usage than free chat.
Official fact1 source+
Free excludes Claude Code; Pro and team prices; Enterprise base seat fee plus usage; education inventory.
Five-hour sessions and weekly limits; Claude chat and Code share usage.
Official fact2 sources+
Five-hour and weekly usage meters and model-specific constraints. Do not treat limits as fixed task counts.
Shared Claude/Code limits, usage-credit overage and separate API billing.
Wait for reset or enable separately billed usage credits.
Official fact1 source+
Shared Claude/Code limits, usage-credit overage and separate API billing.
The upgrade question
When paying more makes sense.
Start here before Pro if recurring limits are not yet a problem.
Our take2 sources+
Current Codex plan mapping, usage tables, model-dependent consumption and credits. Undated live documentation.
Pro $100/5x and $200/20x use Plus as baseline. September 10 pause on new 20x signups; existing renewals and limited return eligibility. Relative update date not converted to publication date.
Start here before Max; inspect limits on your own tasks.
Our take2 sources+
Max 5x $100 and Max 20x $200 monthly web subscriptions; usage relative to Pro.
Five-hour and weekly usage meters and model-specific constraints. Do not treat limits as fixed task counts.
The coding experience
Reported experience, with context.
Plan unspecified: SentiSense preferred Astra for review and Fable for building UI.
User report1 source+
In two weeks on one product, its Codex reviews found incorrect serving-path assumptions and misleading test accounting. Plans were unspecified; this does not establish a universal winner.
Current article describes two weeks using Claude Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra on SentiSense. Concrete review bugs, UI-building observations; subscription tiers unspecified. Promotes author’s own product; not independent laboratory testing.
Plan unspecified: Junaid Khalid uses Codex as a second reviewer and when Claude reaches limits.
User report1 source+
One developer’s multi-session workflow. His spending spans subscriptions and other models; do not infer a Plus-versus-Pro quota benchmark.
Author reports production work and multi-session terminal workflow; some article claims summarize others and were not reused. Own-product promotion disclosed in article. No controlled plan-matched trial.
Plan unspecified: SentiSense found Fable strong at UI building, but its Codex review found missed bugs.
User report1 source+
A two-week product-work account using Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra. Subscription tiers are unspecified. This supports cross-checking, not an overall quality ranking.
Current article describes two weeks using Claude Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra on SentiSense. Concrete review bugs, UI-building observations; subscription tiers unspecified. Promotes author’s own product; not independent laboratory testing.
Plan unspecified: Junaid Khalid keeps Claude as his main builder and Codex as a second reader.
User report1 source+
His preference comes from one business and a heavily customized terminal workflow; it is not evidence that every plan suits all-day use.
Author reports production work and multi-session terminal workflow; some article claims summarize others and were not reused. Own-product promotion disclosed in article. No controlled plan-matched trial.
Harness & workflow
How the tool fits into your day.
Work in the desktop app, terminal, IDE, or delegated cloud tasks.
Official fact1 source+
Managed workspaces can control local and cloud permissions separately.
CLI, IDE, local/cloud permissions, overage choices and account-dependent reset offers.
Terminal, IDE, desktop and web share the Claude Code engine.
Official fact1 source+
Desktop adds visual diff review, parallel sessions, scheduling and cloud sessions. The terminal remains one option, not the only interface.
Terminal, IDE, desktop and web surfaces; visual diffs, parallel sessions and shared engine.
Before you commit
The small print that matters.
Eligible users can buy credits instead of changing plans.
Official fact1 source+
Availability and reset options depend on your account. Extra usage is separate from the subscription fee.
CLI, IDE, local/cloud permissions, overage choices and account-dependent reset offers.
Useful output per dollar is not independently measured here.
Not verifiedEvidence gap+
No Tokenskates hands-on testing. Public reports are attributed and do not guarantee your results.
No supporting source is verified for this claim.
How we compare.
Based on published documentation and public user reports; not our own hands-on testing.
Official facts, individual reports, and our editorial take are labeled separately. Open any evidence label to inspect its sources.
Research checked Sep 20, 2026. This guide does not update live.
Coverage & evidence gaps10 notes
All five requested products are part of our research scope. Listed plans reflect the sources we could verify, with remaining gaps below.
- No original testing or common tasks-per-dollar benchmark. Reports are small, attributed samples, not consensus.
- Grok Lite/Heavy U.S. web prices and several per-tier Build entitlements remain unverified. Their inventory entries expose those gaps.
- Google AI Plus U.S. price was not exposed by the official page; old launch pricing was not carried forward.
- Google official model and plan pages conflict on third-party access. Confirm the model picker before purchasing for Claude access.
- Cursor included pool quantities, exact annual prices and legacy-plan terms need a separate refresh; current monthly inventory is verified.
- Claude Education Code access, institutional agreements and some Enterprise minimums remain unresolved.
- X was searched; the identified firsthand post could not be opened. It supports no published claim.
- Reddit pages exposed relative or stale timestamps. Exact publication dates remain unknown where not established; retrieval is September 20, 2026.
- Promotions are account- and eligibility-dependent. Known-expired May offers are excluded from current value; only the dated Google student offer is noted.
- Availability was checked in public documents, not by completing signup or checkout. All public tiers found are represented, including uncertain entries.
Source index33 sources
Current Codex plan mapping, usage tables, model-dependent consumption and credits. Undated live documentation.
Plus monthly U.S. web price; API usage is separate.
Pro $100/5x and $200/20x use Plus as baseline. September 10 pause on new 20x signups; existing renewals and limited return eligibility. Relative update date not converted to publication date.
U.S. $8/month launch price; current Codex inclusion is separately sourced to Codex pricing.
Standard/Premium seat prices, minimum two paid seats, 5x Premium usage and no five-hour Premium cap.
Credits-only legacy seat eligibility cutoff June 24, 2026; no fixed seat fee and no ChatGPT chat.
CLI, IDE, local/cloud permissions, overage choices and account-dependent reset offers.
Free excludes Claude Code; Pro and team prices; Enterprise base seat fee plus usage; education inventory.
Max 5x $100 and Max 20x $200 monthly web subscriptions; usage relative to Pro.
Five-hour and weekly usage meters and model-specific constraints. Do not treat limits as fixed task counts.
Terminal, IDE, desktop and web surfaces; visual diffs, parallel sessions and shared engine.
Hobby, India-only Start, Pro, Pro+, Ultra, Teams Standard/Premium and Enterprise inventory.
Separate Cursor Models and Other Models usage pools; monthly reset; model-sensitive consumption and team surcharge. Replaces older request-count descriptions.
Plan workflow features: cloud agents, hooks, plugins, teams administration; pricing toggle extraction incomplete for annual offers.
India-only monthly INR plan; restricted model pool and effort settings.
Free, Lite, SuperGrok, Plus, Heavy, Business and Enterprise inventory. $30 and $100 price cards read; Lite/Heavy prices and inclusion icons were not exposed in text extraction.
Build is a coding agent currently powered by Grok 4.6; free trial access, reviewable plans and compatible repo tooling.
June 2026 shared weekly paid usage pool, top-ups and product-dependent consumption.
Business $30/user/month and Enterprise contact sales. Table names Grok Build but extracted checkmarks do not establish per-tier inclusion.
Free plan and organization availability; Cloud consumption pricing and select Enterprise subscription inclusion.
Weekly free quota; five-hour and weekly paid quotas; paid overages; task-sensitive usage. Third-party model description conflicts with model matrix.
Ultra $100/5x and $200/20x versus Pro; shared Gemini pool. $100 bonus-credit offer expired May 25, 2026.
Current Gemini/Claude/gpt-oss matrix. Free and AI Plus are grouped. Matrix conflicts with plans page on third-party entitlement.
AI Plus, Pro and Ultra; Pro calculator displays $19.99 monthly / $199.99 annual. Other price cards did not expose prices in fetched text; personal-account eligibility.
Eligible U.S. college students: one year of AI Pro free, redeem until Dec 31, 2026; payment method required; $19.99/month after. Check complete linked terms.
Current article describes two weeks using Claude Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra on SentiSense. Concrete review bugs, UI-building observations; subscription tiers unspecified. Promotes author’s own product; not independent laboratory testing.
Author reports production work and multi-session terminal workflow; some article claims summarize others and were not reused. Own-product promotion disclosed in article. No controlled plan-matched trial.
Author reports Cursor Pro prototype with on-demand off. Artifact lacked production authentication, payments and deployment. Experience dated July 25; not proof of September quotas. Commercial review site; incentives not independently established.
Author reports roughly 48 hours on SuperGrok Heavy, Grok 4.6 xhigh versus Sol max, seven terminal chats across five projects. Page gives relative date only; exact publication and experience dates not established.
Firsthand September 6 configuration audit of SuperGrok Heavy / Grok 4.6 xhigh. Author explicitly says completed-task value remains untested. Article offers author’s consulting services; no general performance verdict inferred.
Read original post and comments: u/TobiasFornell-d3 reports slow Flash 3.8; author and u/Traditional-Young178 report faster 3.7. Plan/task unspecified. Search dates post September 15; opened page only has stale relative times, so exact dates left unknown.
Discovered through X-targeted search. Direct page returned an internal retrieval error; no content claims rely on the snippet.
Shared Claude/Code limits, usage-credit overage and separate API billing.