# Droid CLI vs OpenAI Codex

> OpenAI Codex scores 73 (BB) to Droid CLI's 59.1 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-openai-codex
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- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

OpenAI Codex scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Droid CLI's 59.1 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harnesses.

- Droid CLI: grade C, 59.1/100, rank #560 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/droid-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/droid-cli.json
- OpenAI Codex: grade BB, 73/100, rank #95 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-codex.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-codex.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 167 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Droid CLI (C)

Good for: Teams that want a terminal coding agent with tiered autonomy, command rules and an optional sandbox, and that will pay for a Factory plan.

Watch for: No free tier or trial was found. Plans start at $20 a month and included usage is stated only as rolling rate limits without numbers

### OpenAI Codex (BB)

Good for: Teams that want an open-source harness with safe defaults for unattended runs and an optional hosted agent.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 55 against 49
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 79
- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 72
- Security & auth, 82 against 63
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 79
- Transparency & trust, 79 against 64

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: Pre-1.0 at 0.160.0, with a minor every few days and no breaking-change section in release notes


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Droid CLI | OpenAI Codex | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 49 | 55 | OpenAI Codex +6 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 90 | OpenAI Codex +11 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 80 | OpenAI Codex +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 63 | 82 | OpenAI Codex +19 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 60 | OpenAI Codex +50 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 87 | OpenAI Codex +8 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 79 | OpenAI Codex +15 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **59.1 · C** | **73 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Droid CLI | OpenAI Codex |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Factory | OpenAI |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary, under Factory's Terms and Conditions. The `droid` npm package is marked `UNLICENSED` and the public repository holds documentation only. The Python SDK is 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 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-14 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-20 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 49 stars, 7.8k npm/wk | 126k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Droid CLI.** `droid exec` is read-only unless `--auto` raises the autonomy level, with command rules, an optional kernel-enforced sandbox, JSON output and documented exit codes. No free tier, status page or security.txt was found, the source is closed, and usage metrics go to Factory by default.

**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

### Droid CLI

1. Set `FACTORY_API_KEY` (starts `fk-`) from the API keys page in Factory settings for headless runs. Interactive use signs in through a browser
2. Start with `droid exec` and no flags for analysis. Add `--auto low` for edits and `--auto medium` for installs, tests and local commits
3. Use `--output-format json` and read `is_error`, `num_turns` and `session_id`. Treat a non-zero exit code as failure
4. Set `sandbox.enabled` to true before running on untrusted code. In `droid exec` a sandbox violation is denied without a prompt
5. Pin the version in CI with `npm install -g droid@<version>`, or set `FACTORY_DROID_AUTO_UPDATE_ENABLED=false` on standalone installs, which update themselves

### 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

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Droid CLI or OpenAI Codex?

OpenAI Codex scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Droid CLI's 59.1 (C), and leads in every scored category.

### Are Droid CLI and OpenAI Codex open source?

No open-source release is listed for Droid CLI. OpenAI Codex is open source (Apache-2.0 (Codex CLI, its Rust crates and the TypeScript and Python SDKs). Codex cloud is a hosted service under OpenAI's terms).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-openai-codex.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-openai-codex.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "droid-cli", "b": "openai-codex"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare droid-cli openai-codex`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/droid-cli.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-codex.json

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