A week ago, after consistently finding myself running out of GitHub Copilot and Codex tokens, I decided to take the plunge and get a Codex Plus subscription to help me work on my hobby project. I justified it by telling myself this was something I’d be using every day, so it would be worth the cost. I had also recently cancelled my Photomator and YouTube Premium subscriptions, which made the decision a little easier.

I chose Codex over GitHub Copilot because I found even the free version of Codex to be significantly better for the way I work. One thing that convinced me was that OpenAI made its most advanced model, GPT-5.5, available even on the free tier, allowing people to try it properly before subscribing. It also helped that Codex was offering a one-month free trial of Codex Plus, giving me more time to see whether it was really worth paying for.

One week into it, I can honestly say I’m very happy with the decision.

I’ve been able to identify and fix security holes in my code, even when doing so required major changes to my backend data model. One of the biggest improvements was adding support for guest accounts, allowing people to RSVP to events without signing in while still keeping everything secure. It was a feature I’d wanted for a long time and probably would have taken me weeks to build during my spare time outside of work. On top of that, I finally got around to all the little usability and visual improvements I’d been putting off simply because I never had enough time.

Now it’s often as simple as thinking of an idea and asking Codex to implement it. It doesn’t always get everything right. Sometimes I still have to debug an issue myself or inspect the server logs to figure out what’s going wrong. Occasionally it heads down the wrong path altogether. But after a few nudges in the right direction, it usually finds its way to a solution.

It really does feel like working alongside someone who’s incredibly smart, never gets tired, never complains, and is available whenever I need help—all for around ¥3,000 a month.

We’ve implemented so much over the past week, and I still have plenty of tokens left. Before this week’s allocation runs out, I’m already using them to plan what I’ll work on next week, and Codex has already given me several ideas I’m excited about. I still have three weeks left in my free trial, and I’m already looking forward to building the next feature.

Using Codex to work on my hobby project has been a far more productive use of my money than keeping my YouTube Premium subscription. Instead of spending my free time passively consuming content, I’m actually building something I’m proud of.

A week ago, after consistently finding myself running out of GitHub Copilot and Codex tokens, I decided to take the plunge and get a Codex Plus subscription to help me work on my hobby project. I justified it by telling myself this was something I’d be using every day, so it would be worth the cost. I had also recently cancelled my Photomator and YouTube Premium subscriptions, which made the decision a little easier.

I chose Codex over GitHub Copilot because I found even the free version of Codex to be significantly better for the way I work. One thing that convinced me was that OpenAI made its most advanced model, GPT-5.5, available even on the free tier, allowing people to try it properly before subscribing. It also helped that Codex was offering a one-month free trial of Codex Plus, giving me more time to see whether it was really worth paying for.

One week into it, I can honestly say I’m very happy with the decision.

I’ve been able to identify and fix security holes in my code, even when doing so required major changes to my backend data model. One of the biggest improvements was adding support for guest accounts, allowing people to RSVP to events without signing in while still keeping everything secure. It was a feature I’d wanted for a long time and probably would have taken me weeks to build during my spare time outside of work. On top of that, I finally got around to all the little usability and visual improvements I’d been putting off simply because I never had enough time.

Now it’s often as simple as thinking of an idea and asking Codex to implement it. It doesn’t always get everything right. Sometimes I still have to debug an issue myself or inspect the server logs to figure out what’s going wrong. Occasionally it heads down the wrong path altogether. But after a few nudges in the right direction, it usually finds its way to a solution.

It really does feel like working alongside someone who’s incredibly smart, never gets tired, never complains, and is available whenever I need help—all for around ¥3,000 a month.

We’ve implemented so much over the past week, and I still have plenty of tokens left. Before this week’s allocation runs out, I’m already using them to plan what I’ll work on next week, and Codex has already given me several ideas I’m excited about. I still have three weeks left in my free trial, and I’m already looking forward to building the next feature.

Using Codex to work on my hobby project has been a far more productive use of my money than keeping my YouTube Premium subscription. Instead of spending my free time passively consuming content, I’m actually building something I’m proud of.