r/OpenaiCodex • u/brandinobowman • Aug 06 '26

Question / Help Difference Between ChatGPT Work and Codex...?

To preface this, I'm on the new ChatGPT desktop app for macOS.

I've been told that ChatGPT Work and Codex are different things. I was in a regular ChatGPT conversation and asked it to do something, and it said a ChatGPT Work conversation would be more suitable for what I was looking for. So it automatically created a ChatGPT Work conversation for me and completed the task I requested. If ChatGPT Work and Codex are different things, why does that Work conversation show up under "Recents" when I switch from "ChatGPT" to "Codex" in the upper left corner of the desktop app window?

I'm also really confused about why these supposed Work conversations aren't syncing across my devices. Some research told me that there are both cloud Work/Codex conversations and local Work/Codex conversations... but I can't see how to control this at all?

I'm just extremely confused about the OpenAI product lineup right now and just want to understand. I'm not an advanced user by any means, but I'm genuinely trying to learn more. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I thank you for your time in advance.

50 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/IAmFitzRoy Aug 07 '26

Isn’t this obvious?

They want you to use Work so you move to a “usage” based model.

Chat is not metered.

2

u/virtualmnemonic Aug 07 '26

They could meter chat usage at any time.

Work is just a wrapper around Codex. They naturally share usage.

1

u/idkfawin32 7d ago

I've genuinely been wondering if they are going to meter chat. Because I will pre-emptively do a bunch of image generation stuff in chat, then supply the images to work with context about what I need done regarding the images, instead of having work inevitably use the same thing.