Cursor

The AI-powered code editor

by Cursor

Overview

Cursor is a code editor with an AI model woven through it rather than bolted on. It is built on the VS Code foundation, so existing extensions, themes and keybindings come along, and on top of that sits an Agent that can search relevant project files, edit across files and run terminal commands, which is what makes a plain-language refactor practical instead of one line at a time. It runs on macOS, Windows and Linux, and there is a JetBrains integration with its own conditions rather than an assumption that you leave your IDE. It is free within usage limits and sells paid plans; which model you pick changes how quickly the included usage runs down, and extra usage is billed. Suggestions still need review, as with any code model.

Cursor’s documentation read on 15 October 2026 directs new customers to The X Subscription, with a weekly Cursor-model pool shared by Grok and Cursor. Third-party models are excluded from that pool and require Premium or higher with prepaid credits at API list prices; teams also have Cursor Token Rate charges. Existing legacy Cursor plans retain their prices and features until changed or cancelled, use two monthly pools and bill extra usage in arrears; switching to the new subscription is permanent. The old $20 Pro and $40-per-user Teams prices therefore describe legacy eligibility, rather than a current offer to every new customer.

Programmatic API access remains a separate scope: the API documentation lists Enterprise administration features and beta Cloud Agents APIs. The current plan table excludes Cloud Agents on Plus and adds them on Premium and above; a generic API eligibility statement is not a universal current-plan entitlement. The Grok API is explicitly billed separately outside the weekly pool. The pages do not establish whether a consumer subscription covers every API operation or whether separate API charges apply. No account, payment or regional-access test was performed.

Editor's take

A candidate to shortlist for a developer who wants AI editing inside an editor they already know: because it is built on VS Code, extensions and keybindings carry over, and multi-file edits are the part worth testing rather than taking on trust. Two things to check rather than assume - the free allowance is limited, with higher usage or model access needing a paid plan, and you still read what it wrote.

Our reading of who this suits, based on the sources above. Opinion, offered to help you decide - not a lab result.

Direct comparisons

Key Features

•Agent that searches relevant project files, edits across files and runs terminal commands
•Chat over project files and multi-file edits
•Inline autocomplete and suggestions
•Model choice per task
•Works on macOS, Windows and Linux, with a JetBrains integration
•VS Code extension compatibility

Use Cases

→Writing new features with AI assistance
→Refactoring large codebases
→Debugging and error fixing
→Learning unfamiliar code

Pros

✓Familiar VS Code experience
✓An Agent that searches relevant project files and edits across them
✓Inline completion and multi-file edits in the editor
✓Runs on macOS, Windows and Linux, with a JetBrains integration

Cons

✕Extra usage beyond the plan is billed
✕Can suggest incorrect code
✕Relies on cloud AI models

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Cursor free?

Cursor offers limited free access. New customers start on The X Subscription; its Cursor-model pool is shared by Grok and Cursor and resets weekly, and third-party models have separate prepaid requirements. Legacy Cursor plans remain only for eligible existing subscribers until changed or cancelled, with two monthly pools. Check the offer and limits shown for your account; legacy Pro pricing is not a current offer to every new user.

Is Cursor based on VS Code?

Yes, it is built on VS Code, so most extensions and familiar shortcuts work as expected.

Can Cursor understand my whole project?

Its Agent searches relevant project files and edits across them, rather than only completing the line you are on. That is not the same as every file being sent to the model, so treat its picture of the project as partial.

How does Cursor compare to GitHub Copilot?

Both have agents, multiple surfaces and usage limits. Cursor is the editor built around its Agent, so it suits work that happens there; GitHub Copilot suits teams whose work already lives in GitHub issues, pull requests and reviews. Compare the included usage and the editors you actually use.

How does Cursor compare to MonkeyCode?

Cursor’s standard requests pass through the Cursor backend, so privacy mode is not on-device processing. Its legacy Pro $20/month price is subject to legacy-plan eligibility; new customers use The X Subscription. MonkeyCode is Chaitin’s open-source platform: Professional is CNY 99 a month, and a private deployment keeps the control plane on your infrastructure, but inference follows the model endpoint you bind. Neither product proves that source code never leaves the machine.

Task guides for this product

T7 · Check whether code and prompts stay on your Mac

Key facts and where they come from

PriceNot established: Current new-customer prices are in USD under the Terms: Plus $8/month or $80/year, Premium $30/month or $300/year, Super $100/month or $1000/year, Ultra $200/month or $2000/year, before tax. Complete purchase-market and account/channel eligibility remain unestablished, so these are not global checkout guarantees.Source: Cursor - models and current subscription · Cursor - legacy plans and migration · Cursor - Terms of Service
AvailabilityNot established: macOS, Windows and Linux downloads are documented, and model access depends on provider region policies; BYOK cannot override a blocked provider region. A complete Cursor service/purchase country matrix remains unestablished, and actual network access was not tested.Source: cursor official cur-download · cursor official cur-regions · Cursor - Terms of Service
Commercial useNot established: The Terms assign Anysphere rights in Suggestions to the user while retaining use and third-party-rights restrictions. This does not establish commercial permission for every actual output or third-party component.Source: Cursor - Terms of Service
Training on your dataDocumented: Anysphere will not use content to train, or allow any third party to train, any AI models, unless you have explicitly agreed to the use of content for training. Section 1.2 defines content as your inputs together with the suggestions returned to you, and section 1.3 points to controls in the service for managing that preference.Source: Cursor - Terms of Service
API billingNot established: The current pricing FAQ says Grok API is billed separately outside the weekly pool; Plus excludes Cloud Agents and Premium adds them. The API overview does not settle every current programmatic endpoint’s inclusion and fees, and the distinct Grok FAQ pool wording is not assumed equivalent.Source: Cursor - models and current subscription · Cursor - API overview
Export formatsNot established: The official API/download pages establish clients and programmatic access, but not downloadable report/chat file containers and plan/surface conditions. Code file access alone does not prove a report-export matrix.Source: Cursor - API overview · cursor official cur-download
Usage limitsDocumented: Cursor is sold as part of The X Subscription, covering Grok, Cursor and X. Its included Cursor-model usage pool is shared across Grok and Cursor and refreshes weekly. Third-party models are excluded; Premium and higher use them from prepaid credits at API list prices, with an additional Cursor Token Rate on Teams and Enterprise. The Grok API is billed separately and does not draw from the pool. This differs from legacy Cursor’s two monthly pools and establishes no fixed coding-task count. New Cursor customers start on The X Subscription. Existing legacy Cursor plans keep their price and features until changed or cancelled, and switching to The X Subscription is permanent. Legacy Pro is listed at $20 per month and old Teams at $40 per user per month; legacy plans use two monthly pools with extra usage billed in arrears, whereas the new subscription uses a weekly pool and prepaid extra usage. Legacy amounts are not presented here as a generally purchasable new-customer offer.Source: Cursor - models and current subscription · Cursor - legacy plans and migration

Official sources

The vendor pages we read for the claims on this page, what each one states, and the day we read it.

Cursor pricing ↗
Historical pricing register read on 23 September 2026: individual Pro $20/month and Teams $40/user/month. This record is not a current generally purchasable new-customer quote; the later legacy-plan documentation distinguishes eligible existing subscribers from new X Subscription customers.
Read on September 23, 2026
Cursor docs - Agent overview ↗
The Agent searches the codebase, edits files and runs terminal commands.
Read on September 23, 2026
Cursor - API overview ↗
The API overview describes Cloud Agents and other programmatic services. It does not provide a complete current billing/inclusion contract for every API and plan, or a downloadable output-format matrix. Historical registered scope read on 2026-10-12, not rechecked in full on 2026-10-15: Read on 12 October 2026. Lists an Admin API restricted to account admins on Enterprise teams and a Cloud Agents API in beta available across plans. The page does not state whether a subscription includes or covers API usage, so that part is left unestablished.
Read on October 15, 2026
Cursor - Terms of Service ↗
Terms updated September 3, 2026 assign Anysphere interests in Suggestions to users, impose third-party rights/use restrictions and US trade-control restrictions, and say fees are USD unless otherwise specified. An ownership assignment does not itself confirm every commercially usable output or purchase market. Historical registered scope read on 2026-10-14, not rechecked in full on 2026-10-15: Read on 14 October 2026 on the English page; last updated 3 September 2026. Section 1.3 Model Training states that Anysphere will not use content to train, or allow any third party to train, any AI models, unless you have explicitly agreed to the use of content for training. Section 1.2 defines content as your inputs together with the suggestions returned to you, and section 1.3 points to controls in the service for managing that preference. Section 4.1 states that fees are denominated in US dollars and are non-refundable except where the law provides otherwise.
Read on October 15, 2026
Cursor - models and current subscription ↗
New plans use The X Subscription. Plus/Premium/Super/Ultra list $8/$30/$100/$200 monthly and $80/$300/$1000/$2000 annually before tax. Plus excludes Cloud Agents and BYOK; Premium adds Cloud Agents. The current pricing FAQ bills Grok API outside the weekly pool; model and product/API scope must remain distinct. Historical registered scope read on 2026-10-15, not rechecked in full on 2026-10-15: Cursor is sold as part of The X Subscription, covering Grok, Cursor and X. Its included Cursor-model usage pool is shared across Grok and Cursor and refreshes weekly. Third-party models are excluded; Premium and higher use them from prepaid credits at API list prices, with an additional Cursor Token Rate on Teams and Enterprise. The Grok API is billed separately and does not draw from the pool. This differs from legacy Cursor’s two monthly pools and establishes no fixed coding-task count. The current plan table lists Plus at $8/month or $80/year, Premium at $30/month or $300/year, Super at $100/month or $1,000/year, and Ultra at $200/month or $2,000/year, excluding tax. The full regional and account-specific purchase conditions were not established. The Plus feature list excludes Cloud Agents; Premium and higher add them. A generic API eligibility statement must not be used as a promise of Cloud Agents entitlement on every current plan.
Read on October 15, 2026
Cursor - legacy plans and migration ↗
New Cursor customers start on The X Subscription. Existing legacy Cursor plans keep their price and features until changed or cancelled, and switching to The X Subscription is permanent. Legacy Pro is listed at $20 per month and old Teams at $40 per user per month; legacy plans use two monthly pools with extra usage billed in arrears, whereas the new subscription uses a weekly pool and prepaid extra usage. Legacy amounts are not presented here as a generally purchasable new-customer offer.
Read on October 15, 2026
cursor official cur-download ↗
The download page lists macOS, Windows and Linux builds. Downloadable clients do not establish which countries may buy or successfully access each service/model.
Read on October 15, 2026
cursor official cur-regions ↗
Some providers restrict models by location; unavailable models are hidden and other models remain usable. BYOK still fails when the provider blocks the region. The page links provider lists instead of declaring a complete Cursor purchase/distribution matrix.
Read on October 15, 2026

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