OpenAI Codex Hits 25 Million Active Users: Milestone Updates and 2026 Expansions
OpenAI Codex has surpassed 25 million active users, growing from 20 million in just 10 days. The platform has expanded rapidly in 2026, introducing...
OpenAI’s core product lead Tibo recently announced that Codex, the AI-powered programming platform, has reached 25 million active users—a significant milestone that comes just 10 days after the platform hit 20 million users on August 21. To mark this achievement, OpenAI reset usage limits for all paid users of Codex and ChatGPT Work, following a previous reset earlier this year due to eight types of abnormal consumption issues.
Codex’s journey began in May 2025 with the launch of its research preview, positioned as a cloud-based software engineering agent capable of parallel programming tasks in independent cloud sandboxes, initially powered by the Codex-1 model. By October 2025, the platform was officially released to the public, adding Slack integration, a Codex SDK, and management tools to enhance developer workflows. Later that December, OpenAI shared a notable case: using Codex to complete the development of the Android version of Sora in just 28 days.
2026 has seen Codex evolve from a cloud-based tool to a standalone developer work platform. In February, OpenAI introduced a Codex desktop app supporting multiple AI programming agents, alongside the release of GPT-5.3-Codex and its lightweight variant GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark, expanding support to Windows. March brought Codex Security, an automated tool for application security reviews, vulnerability identification, and repair recommendations.
April’s "Codex for almost everything" update added built-in browser functionality, computer operation capabilities, and image generation tools, enabling developers to perform code reviews, run tests, and handle persistent tasks directly within Codex. Most recently, on August 19, OpenAI open-sourced the Codex Agent Harness—the underlying execution framework driving Codex—allowing developers to access core code and build custom programming agents tailored to their needs.
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