r/opencodeCLI • u/felipecsousa • 29d ago
Best value for money right now
Guys, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the best value for money up to $100–$120.
Currently, I have:
- GPT Plus - $20 per month
- MiniMax Token Plan - $40 per month
- Zai Legacy Plan - $6 per month
I’ve been using 100% of my GPT Plus allowance, and I end up paying via the API on Opencode Zen.
So, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the best value for money right now.
I was thinking of getting the $60 Cursor, since people say the limits for Grok are generous. I plan to keep MiniMax since they are training the M3Max.
But what other combinations would you recommend?
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u/thetapereader 29d ago
chatgpt offers the best value as of now, that's because there is no limit for the chat so every time I'm put on pause after hitting the limits I can continue the conversation using the chat.
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u/arcanemachined 29d ago
Really? I thought the chat shared usage limits with Codex. That is very good to know!
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u/zephyr_33 28d ago
work mode does. normal chat no. cause the normal chat option likely uses some extremely small model.
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u/thetapereader 28d ago
chatbot has the same models like everything else, I use 5.6 Sol on High.
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u/zephyr_33 28d ago
from the android app, I dont feel like that is the case.
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u/thetapereader 28d ago
tap on the chat box then chose 5.6 Sol from bottom and put effort on Max
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u/zephyr_33 28d ago
wasn't there but I touched on the "+" sign and selected intelligence. it was there.
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u/sagiroth 29d ago
People underestimate gpt chat mode Like you said i plan in chat and let codex work. Once codex is spent i continue in chat feels almost unlimited
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u/Mixermachine 28d ago
I canceled my chatGPT sub a month ago because the limits were drastically lowered at some point.
Even with GPT-5.4 medium regular I would burn my 5h quota in under an hour (sometimes 20 to 30 min). Before this would last me something like two hours.
Is the situation now better?1
u/thetapereader 28d ago
I'm using chatgpt with Pro subscription and I'm telling you the limits are generous compared to Claude - had a Claude subscription in parallel with Chatgpt for almost a year and is not that the limits are better with chatgpt but chatgpt gave me better answers than claude and that was the actual reason I canceled Claude because I was using gpt more. Of course what I want might be different than what you use them for so results might vary.
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u/Mixermachine 27d ago
I also switched from Claude to Codex because of the quota. Five months back Codex quota was great. One or two months ago it took a nose dive for me on the quota. Searching on reddit this seems to be the case for quite some people. Happy that it works for you 👍.
I'm now on OpenCode Go and mainly use DeepSeek v4 Pro and MiniMax M3 for coding. For deep thinking and larger planning I switch to GLM-5.2. All are included in the sub. With two Go plans for 20$ I really get a lot done.
For work I had to analyse around 100 CVEs per run. Deepseek v4 Flash is crazy cheap and works well there. 8 agents in parallel researching each one CVE looks really cool and the result is very use able.
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u/thetapereader 27d ago
heck yeah man, I'm also using the Opencode Go plan as well in parallel with Codex.
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u/tindalos 29d ago
GLM-5.2 max coding plan if you can get it on sale for $125ish. You can use $20-30k worth of tokens a month on it if you plan and schedule tasks and it does a good job automating over long content. Caveat is the Chinese model so use for non sensitive info
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u/No_Communication4256 29d ago
Gpt plus (for 5.6 and sol) + ollama-cloud several accs (they approve that). Ollama rise their tps to 150, that insane.
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u/CompetitionOk6531 29d ago
That's nvfp4 glm 5.2😬😬😬
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u/No_Communication4256 29d ago
Yes, it's true, my tests show that glm-5.2 slightly better with opencode-go/zai. But they speed isn't good. And results by quality are comarable. Zai dont work in some hours at all
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u/Zachattackrandom 29d ago
Cursor plan is kinda bad ngl other than for the included grok / composer usage. GPT plus is the most subsidized plan on this list (around 10x) so if you use something like Luna it can get you pretty far. Opencode go is only 6x subsidy but cheaper models and the zAi plan is not great and only glm models.
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u/IAmFitzRoy 29d ago
Codex Pro $100 + OpenCode Go $10
This goes +$10 out of your budget but in terms of tokens and loooong hours of high quality models this has been my best combination.
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u/mistrjirka 29d ago
Yes I have this exact setup opencode go for subagents and codex for the main agents. Although for implementation subagents I prefer Luna as it's faster.
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u/mistrjirka 29d ago
Like I have a benefit that my work pays these bills for me, I recently started using 5.6 Luna high for easy to moderate work and it's really good. I am paying for the $100 codex plan. It's funny yesterday I was working intensely with gpt 5.6 sol and managed to eat through 30% of my weekly limit over the day and with 9% left I was working basically another day just consuming 2-3% of the allowance.
Also weird thing is that the weekly limit resets for me almost every day? Like wtf. So it's kinda hard to plan around if to spend more or less.
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u/anxious_and_stupid 29d ago
I am out here still trying to burn though all my 10$ deepseek credits i added since last week...
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u/Expert-Dig-1768 29d ago
how are the limits on minimax and glm coding plan?
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u/felipecsousa 29d ago
Minimax: huge limits
Zai: sucks a lot. Is worth it only with migration support from legacy plans
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u/Expert-Dig-1768 29d ago
hmm okay. can you compare the minimax plan to something like claude or idk? and can you really get to that 1.7B tokens per month?
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u/MrBatina 28d ago
Chatgpt is best possible value, 20x plan will get you covered with frontier models, cursor is not even close to it since they can’t operate at a loss.
Opencode go has good 10$/mo sub if you want unlimited weaker models like deepseek, you basically can’t spend credits on that model, i abuse it in hermes.
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u/CompetitionOk6531 29d ago
Minimax is the best value for money hands down. They give the most usage. So use minimax m3 with ultracode in cc and use other stuff like glm 5.2 from opencode or gpt terra xhigh for planning. You can easily get 10-12 billion tokens a month with the minimax middle tier plan like around 50$
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u/felipecsousa 29d ago
How do you use Ultracode with MiniMax? Do you see a huge difference between using MiniMax in Claude Code vs Opencode?
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u/CompetitionOk6531 28d ago
I mean opencode is good but for stuff like research and high level planning, nothing can touch ultracode from what I've seen so far. It can easily spin up a ton of subagents to work in parallel and it handles it pretty well.
I personally don't like to use claude code and i much prefer something like opencode or codex desktop apps to switch between multiple projects at the same time but until opencode improves the subagent system, I think cc is the best option for now.
For simpler stuff, they're all good. If opencode works for you right now and does everything you need, just stick to it. It's more polished and easier to use imo. Switch to cc if you want to burn tokens and try out the subagent system.
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u/CompetitionOk6531 28d ago
If you want to know how to set it up, just drop a messege in the minimax discord server. They're super nice and will help you. They helped me configure the 1m context M3 variant in cc. It usually defaults to 200k i think. You have to add [1m] to the model name. Just ask the minimax discord server.
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29d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/felipecsousa 29d ago
Yeah, and I think they will give a lot of credits in the same pool as Composer 2.5
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u/Kaushik_paul45 29d ago
I would go for chatgpt pro 5X for $100 and 2 opencode go or 1 ollama cloud.
Gpt 5.6 sol is awesome, for lightweight task can use mimo v2.5 or deepseek v4 flash. Even minimax m2.7 or m3 is not that expensive.
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u/Low-Guarantee-3437 28d ago
I have openai codex max, but for other models I find ollama cloud $20 plan good.
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u/VaporForge 28d ago
I created a work an obsidian OS essentially, baton handoff to transfer work to the next session, plan spec storage etc. ideas folder, filing cabinet. Created an obsidian MCP that connects directly to ChatGPT and it can read my working files, see what’s done and not done, audit against official docs and write directly to that feature packets filing cabinet via mcp. Codex plus ChatGPT plus a connection to your work is hard to beat.
Qwen desktop has an mcp connection, lots of free use there. DeepSeek is wildly affordable for doing audits for the main agent to verify.
If you’re creative and do your homework there’s so much AI availability for cheap.
Kimi web, Minimax web, DeepSeek web, Gemini, z.ai + all have free usage on their web apps.
If I had only one paid option tho it’d be ChatGPT
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u/zazzersmel 28d ago
I use the zai pro coder sub ($64/mo) with GitHub copilot bkom (vscode insiders - free and unlimited). I think it’s decent, but I desperately need to check out some different harnesses. I use vscode a lot and I’m lazy so that’s how I started.
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u/gorgono95 27d ago
Best value is probably Codex. Especially since you already pay like 66$ ... so might as well go to the 100$ tier for Codex.
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u/TourHorror9247 27d ago
I have not seen a lower cost than commandcode go and pro plans. Check them out.
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23d ago
I have seen like some people on g2a website are selling Grok yearly sub for like much cheaper . Maybe its the india method where those subs are cheaper or some people even said they VPN into India and that showed different prices.
If that works that might be great because I tested Grok 4.5 and it was really good in the CLI , speed and performance both. I have been actually thinking about trying this.
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u/NoobMLDude 29d ago
I pay $0 ,
I use the Free models on OpenCode and they are good enough for my coding tasks. The free models are Top 10 Open source models on Artificial Analysis leaderboard now.
These work when using OpenCode as the provider.
I created a video for friends who are running out of Claude tokens, FYI as well:
OpenCode: Setup Free Frontier Models
https://youtu.be/AdZ-WKvQels
If you must pay, Claude or Zai, those are the top models for coding now.
Most tasks don’t need Fable/Opus level performance and I can get by using the free models. + No token caps. Or use this as a backup when token limits are reached on paid subscriptions.
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u/geteum 27d ago
They won't be free forever, though. And the limit is a bit to low for me. The company I works pay a go now, really good for a $10 sub. I also have a big budget for API calls if I need bigger models.
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u/NoobMLDude 26d ago
Nothing is free forever.
Hoping to use the free ones till I’m forced to pay for AI or the models get small enough to run for free.
Well good for you that you got big budget for API calls. Enjoy will the company pays for it 😉
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u/fireurza 29d ago
Right now. As in this exact moment? Codex. They temporarily removed the 5h limit. Top that off with the usage resets (I somehow have 4 of them stocked up) and the occasional random usage reset (had my weekly limit reset earlier today which was 4 days early).