OpenAI Codex vs GitHub Copilot
A field-by-field comparison of OpenAI Codex (OpenAI) and GitHub Copilot (GitHub / Microsoft): market position, cost, models, company funding, and enterprise security. Every metric links to its source.
Add more agents to this comparison| Field | OpenAI CodexOpenAI | GitHub CopilotGitHub / Microsoft |
|---|---|---|
| Market | ||
| Attributed output | 5.1M PRsPublic pull requests from Codex cloud | 3.8MPublic GitHub commits attributed to the Copilot coding agent |
| Output signal | Estimate | Exact |
| Agent-opened PRs | 5.1MPublic pull requests from Codex cloud | 1.9MPublic pull requests opened by the Copilot coding agent |
| Business signal | 5M+ weeklyWeekly Codex users | 4.7M paidPaid Copilot subscribers |
| Users / reach | 5M+ weeklyWeekly Codex users | 4.7M paidPaid Copilot subscribers |
| npm demand floor / wk | 10.3M | 1.6M |
| GitHub stars | 89,162 | n/a |
| Cost | ||
| Entry price | $20/mo Plus | $10/mo Pro |
| Top self-serve | $200 | $100 |
| Pricing unit | Plan limits plus token-based credits | GitHub AI Credits and token rates |
| Token transparency | Token rate card | Token rate card |
| Cost per task (AA) | $4.33Codex, GPT-5.5 (xhigh), API retail, AA index 65.3 | Not benchmarked |
| Break-even vs API | ~5 tasks/moChatGPT Plus at $20/mo vs $4.33/task API retail | n/a |
| Product | ||
| Surfaces | CLI, Cloud, Desktop, IDE, Web, Mobile | IDE, CLI, Cloud, Code review, Web, Mobile |
| Model families | GPT-5.5, GPT-5.4, GPT-5.3-Codex, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark | Copilot models, GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok |
| Providers | OpenAI | GitHub, Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google |
| MCP | Yes | Partial |
| BYOK | Yes | No / not core path |
| License | Open source | Proprietary |
| Company | ||
| Ownership | Private | Public |
| Founded | 2015 | 2008 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Total raised | ~$180B | n/a |
| Most recent round | Series G, $122B (Mar 2026) | Acquired by Microsoft, $7.5B (2018) |
| Enterprise | ||
| SSO / SCIM | Yes | Enterprise tier |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, CSA STAR | SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001 |
| Deployment | Cloud-only | Cloud-only |
| Trains on your code | Not trained on your code | Not trained on your code |
| Zero data retention | Enterprise tier | Yes |