Codex App helps you direct and supervise agents. Polystro helps the full local workstream stay attached while those agents run.
Codex App and Polystro overlap on multi-agent workflows, but they are not pushing the same primary story. Codex App is a command center for agents. Polystro is a desktop workstream environment that keeps browser, routing, services, terminals, and project context from drifting apart while agents work.
Where the workflow actually diverges in practice.
Command center vs workstream
Polystro
Polystro treats the local workstream as the core unit: browser, terminals, routing, services, and project context.
Codex App
Codex App is primarily a command center for supervising agents, tasks, reviews, and automations.
What you can see at once
Polystro
Multiple sessions can stay open side by side within and across projects.
Codex App
Codex App clearly supports concurrent work, but the public UI shows session and thread lists rather than simultaneous side-by-side views.
Model billing
Polystro
You pay for the workflow layer while your existing agent and model usage stays where it already lives.
Codex App
Codex App stays inside the OpenAI product and model ecosystem even though it can run without a separate credit wallet.
Where the confirmed capability set differs.
This is the faster way to read the comparison: what we could confirm in the official material that actually matters to this workflow.
Free
Check for free, dash for free tier plus paid, cross for paid only.
Polystro
Codex App
No internal credit system
Check when usage stays with your own subscriptions/providers, cross when usage is bundled into internal plans or credits.
Polystro
Codex App
Multi LLM access
Check for broad multi-provider access, dash for a limited set across different companies, cross for company-specific models only.
Polystro
Codex App
Open source
Check for open source, cross for closed source.
Polystro
Codex App
Parallel agents
Official pages or docs confirm multiple agents or tasks can run at the same time.
Polystro
Codex App
Same-project side-by-side sessions
Can you see multiple agent sessions from the same project at once, side by side, instead of switching through a tab or thread list to inspect them one at a time?
Polystro
Codex App
Cross-project side-by-side sessions
Can you see agent sessions from different projects at the same time, side by side, instead of switching projects or session lists to inspect them?
Polystro
Codex App
Context-linked switching
When you switch projects, workstreams, or worktrees, do the browser, terminal, and attached context switch with you as one linked unit?
Polystro
Codex App
Multi-project visibility
Official material confirms project switching or multi-project work in the same product.
Polystro
Codex App
Browser in the workflow
A built-in browser or browser-assisted workflow is confirmed in official material.
Polystro
Codex App
Browser identity isolation
Separate browser identities, account views, or session isolation are explicitly documented.
Polystro
Codex App
Local routing and port handling
Ports, forwarding, or local app access are confirmed as part of the workflow.
Polystro
Codex App
Review and merge flow
Official material confirms built-in diff review, review queue, or merge workflow.
Polystro
Codex App
Prompting on the go
Away-from-desk continuation, web/mobile access, or similar async continuation is confirmed.
Polystro
Codex App
Local environment control
The product explicitly centers your machine and the attached local development environment.
Polystro
Codex App
Cross-platform desktop
Check for macOS + Windows + Linux, dash for 2 of the 3, cross for only 1 platform or no public confirmation beyond that.
Polystro
Codex App
$9/month billed yearly ($108/year) or $12 monthly
Yes. Bring your own CLI subscriptions and agent setup, and use the models those tools support without Polystro adding model credits or markup.
You pay Polystro for the desktop workflow. Your model and agent usage stay with the providers you already use.
Closed source
Included with eligible ChatGPT plans, with additional credits available when needed.
No. Codex App is an OpenAI product inside the OpenAI model ecosystem.
Tied to ChatGPT / OpenAI plan access and additional credit purchases.
Closed source app
Codex App is a command center for agents, with multi-agent supervision, worktrees, reviews, Skills, and Automations.
The compare-page goal is not to pretend every product is the same. It is to show where Polystro's wedge starts: the local workstream itself. That means the browser, routing, services, terminals, and project context stay attached while multiple agents work in parallel.