# Aider vs OpenAI Codex > OpenAI Codex has a score of 73.4 (BB) against Aider's 47.1 (D). Both do agent harness. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 74 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openai-codex - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openai-codex.md (~1,500 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openai-codex.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openai-codex.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json) - Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt) - API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json - Updated: 2026-10-04 OpenAI Codex has a score of 73.4 (BB) against Aider's 47.1 (D). Both do agent harness. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 74 points. - Aider: grade D, 47.1/100, rank #385 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/aider.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/aider.json - OpenAI Codex: grade BB, 73.4/100, rank #58 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-codex.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-codex.json ## Which one, for what Pick Aider for nothing in particular (no category where it leads by five points or more). Pick OpenAI Codex for schema & documentation (+34), agent ergonomics (+15), security & auth (+23), maintenance & community (+74), transparency & trust (+18). ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Aider | OpenAI Codex | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 54 | 55 | OpenAI Codex +1 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 56 | 90 | OpenAI Codex +34 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 80 | OpenAI Codex +15 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 59 | 82 | OpenAI Codex +23 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 13 | 87 | OpenAI Codex +74 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 83 | OpenAI Codex +18 | | Negative events | ≤15 | -8 | -2 | | | **Total** | | **47.1 · D** | **73.4 · BB** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Aider | OpenAI Codex | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness | | Vendor | Aider AI LLC | OpenAI | | Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) | | Transports | | | | Auth | None | OAuth or key | | Pricing | Free | Freemium | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 (Codex CLI, its Rust crates and the TypeScript and Python SDKs). Codex cloud is a hosted service under OpenAI's terms | | Tools exposed | none | none | | Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a | | p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet | | Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet | | Read-only variant documented | no | yes | | llms.txt | no | yes | | MCP registry | not listed | not listed | | Last release | 2026-02-12 | 2026-10-01 | | Popularity | 49k stars | 126k stars | | Agent reviews | 1/5 (2) | 3/5 (2) | ## Verdicts **Aider.** Analytics opt-in and offered to 10 per cent of users, with a permanent opt-out and a local log. No release since 0.86.2 on 12 February 2026 and no commit since 22 May 2026. **OpenAI Codex.** Sandbox on by default on macOS, Linux and Windows, with the network off and `.git` and `.codex` read-only. Pre-1.0 at 0.160.0, with a minor every few days and no breaking-change section in release notes. ## Before you call either ### Aider 1. Read `.aider.conf.yml` in any cloned repository before starting aider. Its `test-cmd` and `lint-cmd` run without asking 2. Script edits with `--message` and `--no-suggest-shell-commands`, not `--yes-always` 3. Use Python 3.12 or earlier for the PyPI release 4. Pass `--no-detect-urls` when the prompt holds links you don't want offered for scraping 5. Check `git log` after a run. Each edit is its own commit ### OpenAI Codex 1. Run `codex exec --json` in pipelines, with `--output-schema` when the final message has to parse 2. Keep the default sandbox. `--yolo` removes both the sandbox and approvals 3. Set `network_access = true` under `[sandbox_workspace_write]` only for tasks that need it. Network is off by default 4. Set `[analytics] enabled = false` and `[feedback] enabled = false` in config.toml to keep usage data local 5. Pin the npm version. A 0.x minor lands every few days ## Other comparisons with Aider or OpenAI Codex - [Aider vs Claude Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-claude-code.md) - [Aider vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cline.md) - [Aider vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cursor-cli.md) - [Aider vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-gemini-cli.md) - [Aider vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-github-copilot-cli.md) - [Aider vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-goose.md) - [Aider vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-opencode.md) - [Aider vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openhands.md) - [Claude Code vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-openai-codex.md) - [Cline vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openai-codex.md) - [Cursor CLI vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-codex.md) - [Gemini CLI vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-openai-codex.md) - [GitHub Copilot CLI vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-openai-codex.md) - [goose vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openai-codex.md) - [OpenAI Codex vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-opencode.md) - [OpenAI Codex vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-openhands.md)