Pay for Codex with a crypto card

Codex, the coding agent, is available inside ChatGPT Plus, Pro and Team, and through the Codex CLI on API credits. There is no separate Codex subscription to buy. So the question of paying for Codex with crypto is really two questions: how to pay for a ChatGPT plan, and how to buy API credits.

Both go through the same answer. Fund a virtual Mastercard with USDT and add it as the payment method in the OpenAI account.

What Codex costs

With ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month you get Codex with usage limits; Pro at $200 a month raises them. Through the API, Codex is billed per token on the model you pick, prepaid in credits from $5. If you only need Codex occasionally, a one off credit purchase is cheaper than a plan.

All prices are in US dollars and so is the card balance, so there is no conversion.

At the OpenAI checkout

For the plan, subscribe at chatgpt.com under Settings, Subscription, and enter the card. For credits, open platform.openai.com, Settings, Billing, add the card and buy credits. The Codex CLI then signs in with your ChatGPT account or an API key and draws on whichever you chose.

Set a monthly budget under Billing, Limits. With a prepaid card that is your safety net against an agent that runs longer than planned.

If the payment is declined

A failed credit purchase is nearly always balance: the card needs the purchase amount plus a small hold. If a plan renewal fails, top up and OpenAI retries within a few days. If the account says payments are not available in your region, change the account country rather than the card; the card itself has no country restriction at OpenAI.

What the card itself costs

The card costs $49.99 once and nothing per month. A top up is 3% plus the network fee. A purchase in a currency other than US dollars costs 2.5% of the amount, every approved purchase over $1 carries a $0.10 service fee, and the issuing bank's fee on a purchase is passed on at cost. All of it is in one table on the pricing page; if a charge is not there, we do not take it.

How to get the card and pay

1. Open the card. Sign up with an email address and pay $49.99 once for the virtual Mastercard. The card number, expiry date and CVV appear in your account about two minutes later. No passport and no selfie.
2. Top it up with crypto. Send USDT or USDC on TRON, BNB Chain, Polygon or Ethereum to the deposit address shown in the account. The top up costs 3% plus the network fee, and the balance is held in US dollars.
3. Pay at the checkout. Enter the card like any other Mastercard: number, expiry, CVV, the name from your account and the billing address it asks for. The merchant sees an ordinary card payment, not crypto.

Questions people ask

Is there a separate Codex subscription?

No. Codex is included in ChatGPT Plus, Pro and Team, and otherwise billed through API credits. You pay for one of those with the card.

Can I set a hard limit so the card is never emptied by an agent?

Yes. The OpenAI platform has a monthly budget setting under Billing. Set it lower than the card balance and usage stops there.

Does the card work for the OpenAI API from any country?

The card is accepted by the processor worldwide. Region restrictions at OpenAI apply to the account, not to the card.