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OpenCode Go vs Zen (2026): Flat Plan or Pay-as-You-Go?
OpenCode Go vs Zen in 2026: flat monthly plan vs pay-as-you-go, models, usage limits, card fees, and which costs less at your usage, with sources dated.
8 min read
Go prices, limits and models checked Oct 31, 2026 on OpenCode’s Go docs; Zen (now called OpenCode Console) rates and fees checked Oct 31, 2026 on the Console models docs and the Zen page. All arithmetic below is ours, on those published prices. Every source is listed at the bottom. No affiliate links on this page (how we work).
Short answer: Go is a $10 subscription that buys more model usage than $10, but only on Go’s model list and inside 5-hour and weekly caps. Zen is a prepaid balance at cost, plus a card fee, with no caps and the full catalog, including Claude Sonnet and Opus. If you spend less than about $9 a month on tokens, Zen is cheaper. If you live on Kimi, GLM, Qwen or DeepSeek every day, Go wins. If you need Claude Sonnet/Opus or GPT 6 Sol, it’s Zen, because Go doesn’t carry them.
First, the name. “Zen” is what OpenCode called its pay-as-you-go model gateway, and opencode.ai/zen still says Zen. The docs now call the same thing OpenCode Console, and inside the app you’ll see “OpenCode pay-as-you-go provider”. Same product, three names. It’s Keyser Söze: the greatest trick a product ever pulled was convincing the docs it didn’t exist.
Verdict by usage
Here’s how it shakes out on the published numbers (verified Oct 31, 2026):
- Light (a few sessions a week): Zen. You top up once, pay no monthly fee, and the balance stays until you use it. Our break-even arithmetic below says Zen is cheaper until your monthly spend on Go-listed models passes roughly $9.26.
- Daily on open models: Go. $10 gets you per-model monthly limits of $15 to $100 in usage at the same token prices Zen charges for the models we compared. That’s more than $10 of tokens for $10, as long as you stay on Go’s list.
- Heavy on one model: Go Plus ($40). Same models, higher limits: Kimi K3 goes from $15 to $60 a month, GLM-5.3 from $15 to $120.
- Need frontier closed models: Zen. Claude Sonnet 5.5 ($2 / $10 per 1M), Claude Opus 5.5 ($4 / $20) and GPT 6.1 Sol ($2 / $10 up to 272K tokens) are Console-only. Go’s only Claude is Haiku 5.5.
- Both: Go plus a small Zen balance with Extra Usage on. More on that below.
OpenCode Go vs Zen at a glance
| Option | Price | Limits | Models |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go | $10/mo | $ per model | Go list |
| Go Plus | $40/mo | Higher $ caps | Go list |
| Go Teams | $20/member/mo | Per member | Go list |
| Zen (Console) | Pay per use | Your balance | Full catalog |
Sources: Go docs, Console models and Zen page, all verified Oct 31, 2026.
Go and Go Plus are “for workspaces with a single member”. Go Teams covers every member of a multi-member workspace, and each member gets limits “$5/month higher than Go on every model” (Go docs, verified Oct 31, 2026). Go Teams wasn’t on this page when we read it on Oct 29.
How Zen billing works
Zen is a prepaid balance. Per OpenCode (verified Oct 31, 2026):
- You pay per request, at cost. “Zen charges per request with zero markups, so you pay exactly what the model provider charges.” The Console docs put the goal as “selling at cost, with markup only to cover processing fees.”
- The card fee is the markup. “A processing fee of 4.6% + $0.31 is added to each credit purchase.” The Zen page shows what that means for its $20 example: “Add $20 Pay as you go balance (+$1.23 card processing fee).” So $21.23 buys $20 of usage.
- Auto-recharge is optional. It buys credits when your balance runs low. Budgets “cap monthly spend for the workspace and each member.”
- You can stop any time. “You can disable billing at any time and use your remaining balance.”
- Refunds: possible “if the charge was made within the last 14 days and you have not used the credits from that purchase.”
OpenCode doesn’t publish a minimum top-up other than that $20 example, or whether credits expire. Check current terms in the Console before loading a big balance.
Sample per-1M-token rates on Zen, verified Oct 31, 2026:
| Model | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|
| GPT 6 Luna | $0.10 | $0.50 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | $0.10 | $0.50 |
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | $0.30 | $1.20 |
| GLM 5.3 | $1.40 | $4.40 |
| Kimi K3 | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | $2.00 | $10.00 |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | $4.00 | $20.00 |
Source: Console models, verified Oct 31, 2026. Haiku 5.5 rate is for prompts up to 100K tokens; GPT 6 Luna up to 272K. Gemini 4 Argon is 50% off ($2 / $10) through Nov 30, 2026, on both Zen and Go.
For the first five rows, Go’s docs list the same per-token prices, which is why the comparison comes down to the subscription versus the card fee.
The break-even arithmetic
Our math, on the published fee (verified Oct 31, 2026):
- Zen cost for one top-up of X dollars = X × 1.046 + $0.31.
- Go cost = $10, for usage up to each model’s monthly limit.
- Zen matches $10 at a top-up of about $9.26 ($9.26 × 1.046 + $0.31 ≈ $10.00).
So if you’d spend under about $9.26 a month on Go-listed models, Zen is cheaper. Above that, Go is cheaper until you hit a model’s Go limit. Example: Kimi K3 has a $15 Go limit. Using all $15 on Zen in one top-up would cost about $16.00 ($15 × 1.046 + $0.31). On Go, $10.
And the limits are per model. OpenCode says each model has its own monthly allowance, so using up Kimi K3 doesn’t touch your GLM-5.3 allowance. A Go subscriber spreading work across three or four models can draw far more than $10 of usage in a month. That’s the real pitch.
Go limits, in one paragraph
“Usage limits are defined as monthly dollar amounts.” For each model, you can use 20% of the monthly limit in any 5 hours, 50% in any week, and 100% in the month (Go docs, verified Oct 31, 2026). Each response reports how much a request counted as opencode.allowance. OpenCode’s own estimates on Go: Kimi K3.1 Pro about 147 requests per 5 hours and 735 per month; GPT 6 Luna 4,230 and 21,130; Claude Haiku 5.5 3,850 and 19,230 (“actual usage varies”). Two models are Unlimited for a limited time: Beam Free and Iceman Contributor Free. The full table, model by model, is in OpenCode Go plan limits.
The catch Zen doesn’t have: the 5-hour cap. On Kimi K3.1 Pro, 20% of $15 is $3 of usage per five hours on Go. On Zen, your only cap is your balance and any budget you set.
One more Go-only wrinkle: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and V4 Pro have Peak and Off-Peak prices on Go. Peak is 01:00-04:00 and 06:00-10:00 UTC, Monday to Friday, and Off-Peak costs half for V4.1 Flash ($0.15 / $0.60 per 1M vs $0.30 / $1.20). On Zen, V4.1 Flash is a flat $0.30 / $1.20.
Can you use both?
Yes, and OpenCode designed it that way. If you have Console credits, “you can turn on Extra Usage on the Go page. When enabled, Go will fall back to your pay-as-you-go balance after you’ve reached your usage limits instead of blocking requests.” Go Teams starts with Extra Usage on (Go docs, verified Oct 31, 2026).
Without Extra Usage, hitting a Go limit doesn’t strand you either: “If you reach the usage limit, you can continue using the free models.”
Both work outside OpenCode, too. Zen works “with any agent”, and Go lists validated clients including Claude Code and Codex. The exception is the free models: “Free-tier chat models require OpenCode.”
The pricing is genuinely transparent, which is rare. The naming isn’t. A product called Zen on its landing page, Console in the docs and “pay-as-you-go provider” in the app, with a fourth plan (Go Teams) appearing between two reads of the same page, makes “which one am I paying for?” harder than it needs to be.
Here’s what I’d do
Start on the free models. When you outgrow them, put $20 on Zen and set a budget. After a month, look at what you actually spent and on which models. If it’s mostly Go-listed models and over about $10, switch to Go and keep the leftover Zen balance as Extra Usage. If it’s mostly Claude Sonnet or Opus, stay on Zen, or compare against a direct subscription in OpenCode vs Claude Code. Already stuck on the free cap? Read OpenCode free usage limit reached first. All plans in one place: OpenCode pricing. Other tools: AI coding tools compared.
Not sure you need either paid route yet? Start with Is OpenCode free?.
If OpenCode can’t resolve the model ID, that’s OpenCode “Model not found”, not a Go vs Zen plan issue.
FAQ
What is the difference between OpenCode Go and Zen? Go is a monthly subscription ($10, $40 Go Plus, $20 per member Go Teams) with dollar usage limits per model; Zen, now called OpenCode Console, is a prepaid pay-per-use balance at cost plus a card fee.
Is OpenCode Zen cheaper than Go? Only for light use; on OpenCode’s published 4.6% + $0.31 fee, Zen is cheaper until you’d spend about $9.26 a month on Go-listed models.
Does OpenCode Go include Zen models? Partly; Go has its own list, including Claude Haiku 5.5, GPT 6 Luna, Gemini 4 Argon, GLM, Kimi and Qwen models, but not Claude Sonnet, Claude Opus or GPT 6 Sol.
Is Zen the same as OpenCode Console? Yes, Zen is the earlier name for OpenCode’s pay-as-you-go gateway; opencode.ai/zen still uses it while the docs say Console.
What happens when I hit the Go limit? You can keep using the free models, or turn on Extra Usage so Go falls back to your Zen/Console balance.
Does Zen have a card fee? Yes, OpenCode adds 4.6% + $0.31 to each credit purchase, which is $1.23 on a $20 top-up.
Sources
- OpenCode Go docs (Go, Go Plus, Go Teams prices; monthly, weekly and 5-hour limits; per-model limits and token prices; request estimates; Extra Usage; peak hours; validated clients): https://opencode.ai/v2/docs/console/go/ (verified 2026-10-31)
- OpenCode Console models (per-1M rates, 4.6% + $0.31 fee, auto-recharge, budgets, free models require OpenCode, at-cost goal): https://opencode.ai/v2/docs/console/models/ (verified 2026-10-31)
- OpenCode Zen page ($20 balance + $1.23 fee, zero markups, spend limits, disable billing, 14-day refund): https://opencode.ai/zen (verified 2026-10-31)
- OpenCode Console intro (Go, Go Plus, Go Teams prices): https://opencode.ai/v2/docs/console/ (verified 2026-10-31)