# Cursor CLI vs OpenAI Codex (slim)

> OpenAI Codex has a score of 73.4 (BB) against Cursor CLI's 35.8 (F). Both do agent harness. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 51 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-codex.md (~1,600 tokens) · this version ~380 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-codex.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-codex
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-05

OpenAI Codex has a score of 73.4 (BB) against Cursor CLI's 35.8 (F). Both do agent harness. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 51 points.

- Cursor CLI: F 35.8, rank #441 of 452 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-cli.min.md
- OpenAI Codex: BB 73.4, rank #58 of 452 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-codex.min.md
- Pick Cursor CLI for nothing in particular. Pick OpenAI Codex for reliability (+28), schema & documentation (+51), agent ergonomics (+38), security & auth (+36), payments & pricing (+35), maintenance & community (+25), transparency & trust (+19).

| Category | Cursor CLI | OpenAI Codex |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 27 | 55 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 39 | 90 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 42 | 80 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 46 | 82 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 25 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 62 | 87 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 64 | 83 |