Ever since the AI era, I have been using only free AI tools for my tasks. Initially, ChatGPT was the place to go for many people. Later, when the use cases of AI started expanding, there were so many other tools that were helpful in making our lives easier. In the last year, I have never thought of purchasing any paid subscription, but in the last few weeks, I have been using Codex heavily. For some reason, I did not have any big restrictions on the Usage until I switched accounts in my VS Code. I did not even think that Codex required a subscription. The reason was that I was continuously using it without any problem. I used it on multiple projects, and it was all good. Two days back, I wanted to use separate OpenAI logins for my different projects. So I wanted to log out and log in to a different account. I don't know if that's the mistake I did but my usage suddenly got exhausted. I think after I logged out and logged back in, my VS Code extension also got an update, and it started tracking my usage heavily. But to my surprise, just for asking 5 questions, my free plan usage got completed. It started asking me to pay for a paid subscription. ![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmapQmuxL93cLE3RNczpRG9EAeBpenBu7bqjxkRKM8h4oX/image.png) Source - Sora I was having some of my activities half done, and I did not want to switch to a different model to complete my task. So I bought my first subscription. I did not go for the Pro plan, though. I have selected only the GO plan, and that itself does not look sufficient. I asked only 3 questions so far, and my usage is already at 85. I don't think this will even last for like 1 week until the usage gets reset. I still wonder how I was able to use Codex with more limits before, and I wish I had not switched my account. Maybe they gave me a higher limit for the initial trial period, and they stopped giving that. I have no idea. If my usage limit is going to get exhausted faster, I don't think I will continue paying for the subscription. My next option would be to choose a local AI model that I can run from my local server. But right now it demands a lot of VRAM. My paid plan should have been Claude's code, but somehow I got used to Codex, and it is very good. I'm able to use this directly in my VS Code and review my code changes then and there. I'm still exploring other options available to see if there are any better models available. I asked GitHub Copilot's free version to do a small task, and I noticed that it was horrible. Now I understand the power of premium models and why it is important to use premium models for coding instead of free models. I wish there were more competitive products available in the market so that this experience gets better for the developers. --- If like what I'm doing on Hive, you can vote me as a witness with the links below. Vote @balaz as a [Hive Witness](https://vote.hive.uno/@balaz) Vote @kanibot as a [Hive Engine Witness](https://votify.vercel.app/kanibot) ---

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LeoFinance

@brennanhm

Why AI Tokens Are Better Than AI Stocks

@bala41288

Bought my first AI subscription - Codex