Comparison

Continue vs OpenAI Codex

A like-for-like, spec-level comparison. Both entries are verified against their docs and repo.

Continue

Open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains.

+ Works in JetBrains, not just VS Code
+ Fully BYOK and local-model friendly
− Agent capability behind Cline/Aider
− Setup overhead for custom providers

OpenAI Codex

OpenAI's open-source agentic coding CLI.

+ Open-source CLI
+ Sandboxed command execution
− OpenAI models only
− Newer, less battle-tested than incumbents

Spec	Continue	OpenAI Codex
Category	coding-agent	coding-agent
License	Apache-2.0	Apache-2.0
Open source	Yes	Yes
Self-hostable	Yes	No
MCP support	Yes	Yes
Pricing	free	usage
Starting price	BYOK usage cost	Pay per token (OpenAI API)
Models	claude, gpt, gemini, local, byok	gpt
Languages	typescript	multi
GitHub stars	34.4k	93.6k
Last activity	2026-06-24	2026-06-25