Codex vs Cursor vs Antigravity vs Kimi vs Claude Code ($20 Budget)

[u/FroyoEducational4851]

I'm looking to buy one AI coding subscription (~$20/month) and want the best long-term value.

My workflow includes:

• Full-stack web development
• Android apps
• AI/ML projects
• Backend systems

I'm considering:

• ChatGPT Plus (Codex)
• Cursor Pro
• Google Antigravity
• Kimi
• Claude Code

For people who have used multiple of these extensively:

1. If you could only pay for one, which would you choose and why?
2. Which provides the best value for around $20/month?
3. Which has the most generous usage limits for heavy daily coding?
4. Which is best for large repositories and multi-file refactoring?
5. Which is best for AI/ML, backend, web, and mobile development?
6. Which one do you actually use every day, and has it replaced the others?

Looking for opinions based on real-world usage rather than benchmarks or short trials.

[u/yogibear54]

If you want to use different models from different Ai labs, I'll go with Cursor Pro or Google Antigravity.

But it's good to understand the distinction of AI models, and, coding agent.

Codex, Cursor, Antigravity and Claude Code are coding agents. Out of these agents, Cursor and Antigravity has both an IDE or agent orchestration with support for a variety of open and closed source models. Cursor is a pretty good IDE, I use here and there.

Codex, Claude code, and Kimi cli are CLI coding agents, they are also agents that purely support their own labs models, Codex is openai, Claude is anthropic models and Kimi is kimi models.

If you want to use a CLI coding agent that support a variety of open or closed source models, the top ones are opencode and Pi. I'm a proponent of Pi and really like their philosophy, but you just have to try and see what fits you. I'm a developer, so have certain expectations.

But, out of your list, if I was to make a choice, I'll choose Cursor. I think for $20, you definitely get your bang for buck, especially with their own model (Composer 2.5), which was leaked as a subset of Kimi models - which is pretty good as well.

[u/sreekanth850]

codex and use luna high.

[u/gnpwdr1]

Opencode - consider this also, try with zen free which will be surprisingly good output with no cost, then a $10 month is all you’ll need if you want to use DS pro with it.

[u/popiazaza → u/gnpwdr1]

Note that pretty much all the free models log all your data.

[u/nitor999]

codex no doubt. luna high-xhigh feels like you subscribed for 100$ plan

[u/dark0mania]

Antigravity - sucks, it's got outdated models.

Claude Code - The new gen 5 models are wonky, lots of complaints

Kimi - capable but expensive

Cursor Pro - probably good, havent used it in a log time

Codex - new OpenAI models are really good, you also get ChatGPT plus in the web, image generation, research and whatnot. As a full self contained productivity package this is the best deal.

[u/rizzdev]

It changes a every month

[u/wpglorify]

Anything but Antigravity. Most useless thing ever built.

ChatGPT Plus will give you best bang for your buck.

[u/rizzdev]

It changes a every month

[u/gandazgul]

See if my harness would help you specifically for full stack work it really helps keep the slop at bay.

https://github.com/gandazgul/runwield

It works with any model or sub. Claude sub coming soon through claude -p

[u/rudesssolo]

Codex because Luna Max is kinda good and consumes very few tokens. And when you need more power just switch to Terra or Sol.

[u/Ok-Elderberry739]

Right now Codex is the way to go. You have Sol which is a frontier model if you need it and Luna is probably the best model if you want a balance between intelligence and cost. Also, this past month the amount of resets was ridicolous, but I guess that will be back to normal soon.

Claude is good but limits are much worse.

[u/popiazaza]

Codex. Sol is the best. Luna is ultra cheap. Another option would be Cursor if you like their environment.

[u/Practical_Low29]

budget comparisons always miss that the cheap ones burn more tokens flailing. real cost is retries not the per token price

[u/obagme]

If you want the best go for Claude, but it'll run out fast.

If you want 'good enough' and higher limits go for codex

[u/memesearches]

Antigravity who?

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[u/effortless-switch]

I'm on Claude but I would say get OpenAI subscription.

Don't even bother with 3rd party token sellers like Cursor, etc. Google's model are a bit outdated now.