---
title: "Codex CLI vs Visual Studio Code"
description: "Codex CLI is a terminal agent, Visual Studio Code is an AI-native IDE. Visual Studio Code runs Codex CLI on the login you already have for it."
canonical_url: "https://whichcoding.tools/compare/codex-cli-vs-vscode"
---
# Codex CLI vs Visual Studio Code

> Codex CLI is a terminal agent by OpenAI. Visual Studio Code is an AI-native IDE by Microsoft. Every cell below is read from the directory data and points back to a vendor page.

## General

|  | Codex CLI | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Layer | Terminal agent, Editor extension, Cloud agent | AI-native IDE |
| Vendor | OpenAI | Microsoft |
| Website | [learn.chatgpt.com/docs/codex/cli](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/codex/cli) | [code.visualstudio.com](https://code.visualstudio.com) |
| Platforms | macOS, Linux, Windows | macOS, Windows, Linux, Web |
| License | Apache-2.0 (Open source) | MIT (Open source) |
| Status | active | active |

## Pricing

|  | Codex CLI | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | Free | Free |
| Top individual plan | $100/mo | Free |
| Team plan | $25/user/mo | — |
| Included usage | — | — |
| Beyond the plan | Rate limited, API list price | — |
| Part of a plan | ChatGPT | — |

## Models

|  | Codex CLI | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Providers | OpenAI | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Moonshot |
| Bring your own key | BYOK | Partial BYOK |
| Local models | No | Yes |

## Features

|  | Codex CLI | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Git worktrees | Yes | Yes |
| Parallel agents | No | Yes |
| Subagents | Yes | Yes |
| MCP client | Yes | Yes |
| ACP agent | Yes | No |
| Browser automation | No | Yes |
| Sandboxing | Yes | Yes |
| Remote execution | Yes | Yes |
| Diff review | Yes | Yes |
| Checkpoints | Yes | Yes |
| Plugins | Yes | Yes |
| Hooks | Yes | Yes |
| Tab completion | No | Yes |

## Works with

|  | Codex CLI | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Runs | — | GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Codex CLI |
| Runs inside | agent-manager, ChatGPT Desktop, Claude Squad, cmux, Conductor, Devin Desktop, dmux, Emdash, goose, Herdr, JetBrains AI, Multica, Nimbalyst, OpenHands, Orca, Paseo, Superset, T3 Code, Vibe Kanban, Visual Studio Code, Warp, Xcode, YYLO, Zed | — |
| Pricing verified | 2026-10-06 | 2026-09-28 |

## Related

[Add more tools](https://whichcoding.tools/compare?tools=codex-cli,vscode), up to four at a time.

Data: CC BY 4.0. Credit whichcoding.tools and link to https://whichcoding.tools. Full terms in [LICENSE-DATA](https://github.com/benjamincanac/whichcodingtools/blob/main/LICENSE-DATA).

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