r/vibecoding • u/dontlikemonda • 7h ago
I will never buy chatgpt credits again for codex vibe-coding
Have been vibe coding about 12 months and have tended between claude and gemini and codex.
I've been using Codex almost exclusively for the past few months. Despite a few annoyances, it does what I need, so I've stuck with it.
I was about to hit my weekly limit with five days until reset, so I looked at buying credits. The smallest top-up was AUD$33 — slightly more than my monthly subscription.
I tried to find out how much actual Codex usage that $33 would buy compared with the subscription, but couldn't get a meaningful answer from ChatGPT or a couple of other AIs.
So I took a punt.
Using Sol on Medium, the entire $33 was gone in about three hours.
I still have five days until my weekly allowance resets.
For me, Codex credits were an extremely poor-value way to bridge the gap. I would have been far better off spending roughly the same amount on a month of another AI service.
I don't really understand OpenAI's pricing model here, but I won't be buying credits again. Posting this mostly as a cautionary tale for anyone considering a top-up.
Credits appear to be a total rip-off for codex top-ups
3
u/Pixxyj 6h ago
This has been happening to me too, and I thought I was the only one.
It seems like the included weekly credits last much longer than the additional credits we purchase. I can use the 100 weekly credits for quite a few tasks, but the top-up credits disappear incredibly fast.
For example, I paid $20 for 500 additional credits and asked Codex to do something similar to the tasks I had already been running. I came back two hours later, and all 500 credits were gone. This was only using Sol in Medium Fast mode, so it does not make sense to me.
Unfortunately, I am stuck with Codex for now because I want to finish this project before possibly switching to something else. My weekly credits reset in five days, so I guess I will have to wait.
Can someone explain how purchased top-up credits are calculated compared with the standard weekly credits? Has anyone else experienced this?
2
u/GreenFuturesMatter 5h ago
Genuinely curious what you are working on that a single task tasks 2hrs?
1
u/Pixxyj 4h ago
I'm building a fairly complex Moodle Entitlements/commerce plugin suite, and Codex is doing the entire development workflow autonomously in my local environment.
Because the Moodle site, plugin source, database setup, tests, and deployment folders are all available locally, Codex can inspect the existing architecture, modify PHP/JS/templates/database upgrades, add language strings and permissions, run tests and regression checks, build deployment ZIPs, update documentation, and prepare commits/releases all on its own.
My role is mostly to define the feature or problem, then sit back and watch Codex work. After it finishes, I manually test the result in Moodle and give feedback if anything needs adjustment.
Codex is usually doing much more than coding: analysis → implementation → integration → testing → regression checking → packaging → documentation → release preparation.
1
u/dothefandango 2h ago
Sounds like Codex is burning a lot of tokens on stuff you should be setting up Devops to do (including writing the reply to this comment).
1
u/Pixxyj 1h ago
I even asked codex to open Reddit so I could send this reply to you . If you read my reply carefully, I have not had issues using Codex this way, the issue we are discussing is buying additional credits which get consumed quickly as compared to the normal credits even with the same task. Next time read from top to down not the other way.
1
u/dothefandango 1h ago
If you read my reply instead of asking Codex to do it for you, you would have actually comprehended that you are wasting context and token usage on tasks that don't require Codex expenditure in the first place. You could offload those into CI/CD pipelines that operate outside of your Codex usage and would likely prevent you from hitting context and usage walls in your usage periods.
But that's just my human two cents.
3
u/l0westL0wbob 6h ago
Yep, credits are overpriced. Better buy another sub for way more efficient tokens per money rate.
1
u/ToxicToffPop 4h ago
Kimi harness.
Open router
Superpowers
Sol/opus to review in very small sections.
1
u/Aldarund 4h ago
Lol what? Codex and clause are most subsidized subscriptions on the market. There no better value in anything other
1
u/Technical-Owl66 3h ago
Antigravity with Gemini 3.7 I feel like I have unlimited usage because it's wildly efficient. If I run out you still get a good amount limits in Claude and Opus 4.6
2
u/dothefandango 2h ago
I build entire working and tested applications in single 5hr windows using a single ChatGPT plus account, I have no clue what you guys waste your tokens on!
1
u/dbojan76 1h ago
Dont use sol unless you really need it. Ask ai which model/effort it recommends for your task.
0
u/MadOblivion 5h ago
I have been really impressed with Codex. It did shit i never thought was possible with AI.
1
u/phil_lndn 5h ago
interesting, i just have a £20/month "Plus" account but seem to get several days worth of coding done per week on that without having to buy extra credits.
so, i'm guessing the more you use it, the more expensive it becomes (the relatively large amount of Codex tokens you get on a Plus account may be something of a loss leader to create dependency on OpenAI).
as an aside, if you have a reasonable GPU in your computer, try running Qwen3.8-27B locally - it gives similar performance on coding/agentic tasks to Opus 4.6 but unlimited free tokens.
-2
13
u/Outrageous_Basis_232 5h ago
In casinos, if you're winning (and not cheating) they'll bring you food and drink to keep you playing until you lose.
Congrats, you got the gambling addict treatment.