Astra is draining your Codex allowance: how to keep working

Codex has changed the code, but you still need to check the interface—and your Astra allowance is nearly gone. First identify which usage window is running out. Then choose how to finish: make the remaining allowance go further, use an available reset, or move model requests to a pay-as-you-go API.

With BetterToken, you can keep working in Codex and use Computer Use when its plugin and app access are configured. Computer Use is available in ChatGPT Work and Codex only in supported regions; connecting BetterToken does not change that requirement. You are changing the provider and billing for model requests. The setup below preserves your official sign-in and plugins, so you can focus on finishing the project.

Why Astra can use your allowance faster

Users have reported this problem directly. In a report to the Codex developers, a Pro 20x subscriber described a rapid drop in their weekly allowance while using Astra, followed by a switch to Sol. Their local request records came with an important qualification: concurrent work and meter delays made it hard to attribute the whole drop to one model. The report documents a real planning problem, but does not establish incorrect billing.

OpenAI’s usage guidance explains that the model and task both affect consumption. Larger inputs and outputs, higher reasoning effort, Fast mode, and multistep work can use more allowance. A short message such as “finish this and check it” may trigger file reads, edits, and several rounds of verification.

Open Settings → Usage and note the remaining allowance and reset time for both the five-hour and weekly windows. If your plan applies both limits, you need room in both. Time left in the week does not necessarily mean you can keep running tasks.

Check what the current task is doing:

What you notice	What to check or change
Astra is making a routine small edit at high reasoning effort	Try Low or Medium for the next bounded step; increase effort if the result calls for it
The agent keeps repeating the same failed check	Clarify the error or provide missing files or access; more reasoning cannot supply missing information
Several tasks are running at once	Check their progress and stop unnecessary repetition before judging one task’s consumption
Usage seems out of proportion to the work completed	Save the model, settings, timestamp with time zone, and Usage readings for Support

Local token records can help describe a problem. They do not, by themselves, provide a formula for converting tokens into subscription percentages. A difference between those counters is not enough to conclude that a charge is wrong.

Choose a way to finish the task

If you still have allowance, a more economical model or lower reasoning effort may help finish a small stage. Switching models within a shared pool does not restore allowance already used.

If the pool is exhausted, check the options shown for your account: wait for a reset, use a saved reset, purchase an eligible reset, or use additional credits. Availability and terms depend on the account and region. A separately billed API is another option for work that needs to continue now.

BetterToken provides this kind of API access to Astra. You use your own API Key and pay for usage, with a separate record of the cost. Your official subscription allowance is not reset. The BetterToken Codex guide explains the connection.

How much cheaper is Astra through BetterToken?

As checked on September 9, 2026, these BetterToken rates for gpt-6-astra in the GPT group are 32% lower than OpenAI’s Standard API rates. Prices are in US dollars per million tokens, for requests with no more than 272,000 input tokens.

Token type	OpenAI Standard API	BetterToken, GPT group
Uncached input	$10.00	$6.80
Cache reads	$1.00	$0.68
Cache writes	$12.50	$8.50
Output	$50.00	$34.00

Sources: OpenAI’s model pricing and the current BetterToken catalog. The BetterToken pricing API lists Astra’s pricing tiers and a GPT group multiplier of 0.68.

Requests with more than 272,000 input tokens use a different tier. OpenAI’s Standard input, cache-read, cache-write, and output rates are $20, $2, $25, and $75 per million tokens. With the current multiplier, BetterToken’s corresponding rates are $13.60, $1.36, $17, and $51. The long-context tier applies to the entire request.

For example, suppose several requests each stay below the 272,000-token threshold and together use 1 million uncached input tokens and 100,000 output tokens. With no caching or additional tool charges, that is $15 on OpenAI Standard API and $10.20 on BetterToken. This is a calculation for a specified token volume, not a promised hourly session price.

The comparison covers the listed Standard API token rates. It excludes Batch, Flex, Fast mode, any separate tool charges, and subscription costs. If your subscription already covers your work, its overall cost may be better. Check current rates before adding funds, then try one small stage of your own task.

Keep Codex tools and Computer Use available

Project work involves reading and editing files, running commands and checks, using connected MCP tools, and inspecting the result in an interface. Moving to an API does not require moving that work into a separate chat. Keep using Codex and verify the tools you need in the client.

If official plugins already work, use the setup that preserves your official sign-in:

1. Confirm that Codex retains your official sign-in. Install CC Switch 3.16.1 or later.
2. Add BetterToken in CC Switch with your own GPT group key, Base URL https://www.bettertoken.ai/v1, and model gpt-6-astra. Codex requires the Responses API.
3. Under Settings → General → Codex App Enhancements, enable Keep official login when switching third-party providers. Enable Unified Codex session history if you also want a combined history list.
4. Fully quit and reopen Codex. Check your official sign-in, the selected provider, a reply to a short message, and the matching request in BetterToken’s usage history.

If Codex already uses an API and the required plugins work, update the existing Base URL, API Key, and, if needed, Model ID. You do not need to reinstall Computer Use just because you changed providers. Enter the key locally in settings, not in a message to the agent.

A unified history displays sessions together; it does not guarantee that an existing session can continue through a different provider. If it cannot resume, start a new task in the same project and pass over its current state as described below.

Check Computer Use after switching

In a supported region, open Work or Codex in the ChatGPT desktop app, then Plugins → Computer Use. Install or enable the plugin and check the MCP server and skill toggles. On macOS, grant Screen Recording and Accessibility permissions. On Windows, keep the target app visible in the active desktop session. See the Computer Use documentation for availability and setup requirements.

After the short text request succeeds, give the agent a small interface task: open a local app, reproduce a known issue, and describe the visible result. Confirm that it actually has access to the intended window before proceeding to the next stage.

This keeps a useful combination available: Astra edits code in Codex, while Computer Use helps verify the desktop interface. Plugins, system permissions, and organization restrictions still apply. Model API support does not automatically grant access to every cloud feature or third-party service.

Continue from the project’s current state

Before switching, save changed files and inspect the diff. If the old session still responds, ask it to record the current state briefly. If the limit has already stopped it, assemble that record from the files, task history, and command results.

Use a handoff like this for the new task:

Continue the current project from its existing files and diff.
Goal: [the result still needed].
Completed: [changes already made].
Checks: [commands run and their actual results].
Remaining problem: [exact error or visible behavior].
Next step: [one bounded change or verification].
Preserve unrelated changes. Do not restart completed work.
Stop after this step and report the result.

For interface work, add the app name, target window, and action whose result needs checking. Start with Codex’s built-in browser for a local web page. Use Computer Use for a desktop app or a check that requires its graphical interface.

After the first stage, compare the diff, verification result, and BetterToken usage record. That gives you the cost of an actual step in your project and helps you choose what comes next: keep Astra, lower reasoning effort, or assign a simple part to another available model. If an API error occurs, first identify its type using the guide to limits and continuing work so you do not pay to repeat the same failed attempt.

Create a BetterToken API Key, follow the guide to preserving sign-in and plugins, and start with one unfinished stage of your current project.