Codex CLI vs. zerostack

Feature	Codex CLI	zerostack

Tagline	Lightweight coding agent that runs in your terminal	Minimal Rust coding agent optimized for memory footprint
Website	https://openai.com/codex	https://gi-dellav.github.io/zerostack/
Language	rust	rust
Release Date	April 30, 2025	May 12, 2026
Last Updated	June 29, 2026	September 4, 2026
Provider Type	AI Lab	Independent
MCP Support	Yes	Yes
Multi-Agent Support	Yes	Yes
Git Integration	deep	deep
Multi-File Editing	Yes	Yes
Auto Test Running	Yes	Yes
Sandbox / Permissions	Yes	Yes
Image / Multimodal Input	Yes	Yes
Voice Mode	Yes	No
IDE Integration	VS Code, Zed (via ACP)	Zed (via ACP), Neovim (via CodeCompanion.nvim + ACP)
Hooks / Extensions	Yes	Yes
Web Search	Yes	Yes
Local Model Support	Yes	Yes
Context Window	Model-dependent	Model-dependent; auto-compaction
Terminal Bench 2.0	#6 · 82.0% ±2.2 ¹
Supported Models	All frontier GPT, Codex models: GPT-5.6 Sol / Terra / Luna, GPT-5.5, GPT-5.4 pro, GPT-5.3-Codex, optional custom models.	OpenRouter (default), OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Ollama, plus unlimited custom OpenAI-compatible endpoints (vLLM, LiteLLM, enterprise gateways)
Supported Subscriptions	ChatGPT	—
Pricing Model	Subscription	Free, BYOK
Free Tier	No	Yes
Price Range	$20-200/mo	Free (BYOK)
Source Code Availability	Open Source (Apache-2.0)	Open Source (GPL-3.0)
Source Code	https://github.com/openai/codex	https://github.com/gi-dellav/zerostack
Development State	active	active