Cursor
Cursor is the agentic editor: a free Hobby tier, Individual from $20 a month across Pro, Pro+ and Ultra, Teams at $40 per user, and usage-based billing above the limits.
Verified against: cursor.com as of 2026-09-30
Quick verdict: Cursor is the pick when agent capability is the buying reason. The $20 Individual tier is the reference price every other tool here is measured against, and Teams at $40 per user buys central billing, SSO and shared agent context. Budget for overage: agent-request limits plus usage-based Bugbot means the real monthly cost tracks how much the team leans on agents. Choose Copilot if you want the cheapest seat and GitHub-native flow, Claude Code for terminal work with an API path, Windsurf if you prefer a quota you can forecast, and Kiro if you are AWS-centric.
- Our rating: 4.5/5
- Strongest dimension: Functionality (5/5, research only)
- Weakest dimension: Usability (4/5, research only)
- Pricing: Free plan · $20/mo (Individual)
- Verification: Research-only pass over official sources, last checked 2026-09-30. Sources: cursor.com
Cursor pricing details
- Free plan available
- paid plans from $20/mo (Individual)
- hobby $0 · Individual $20/mo (Pro/Pro+/Ultra ladder) · Teams $40/user/mo · Enterprise custom
- a Yearly billing toggle exists on the pricing page; published per-plan annual rates are not itemized on the page
Subscription tiers carry limits on agent requests, frontier-model access and cloud agents; overage is billed on a usage basis. Teams adds centralized billing, SSO, team marketplaces and a team-wide privacy mode; Enterprise adds pooled usage, SCIM and audit logs.
In our index: Free plan (Hobby): $0, limited agent requests · Individual $20/mo (Pro/Pro+/Ultra) · Teams $40/user/mo · Enterprise custom (usage-based overage)
How Cursor scores across our 6 index dimensions
- Functionality: 5/5 (research only)
- Usability: 4/5 (research only)
- Stability: 4/5 (research only)
- Collaboration: 4/5 (research only)
- Localization: 4/5 (research only)
- Value: 4/5 (research only)
Score rationale: The tool teams pick when agent capability leads: extended agent limits, frontier models, MCPs and cloud agents come with the $20 tier, and Bugbot code review is billed per use on top. The bill is harder to forecast than a flat seat price because the paid tiers cap agent work and then switch to usage-based pricing.
What Cursor does well
- The most capable agent loop in the class: frontier models, MCPs, skills, hooks and cloud agents all come with the $20 tier
- Free Hobby tier with limited agent requests and Composer access, so evaluation costs nothing
- Teams at $40 per user adds SAML/OIDC SSO, a team marketplace, shared cloud-agent context and a team-wide privacy mode
Where Cursor falls short
- Paid tiers cap agent requests and then bill usage-based, so a heavy month costs more than the sticker price
- Bugbot code review is explicitly usage-based billing on top of the subscription
- No public seat minimum or annual rate on the page — Teams and Enterprise pricing only partly itemized
How Cursor compares to other AI Coding Assistants tools
Our index tracks 5 AI Coding Assistants tools. Cursor sits at 4.5/5, with a yearly billing toggle exists on the pricing page; published per-plan annual rates are not itemized on the page. Here are the 4 closest alternatives we hold pricing and scoring evidence for.
- Claude Code (Anthropic) — 4.5/5 · Free plan · $17/mo annual (Pro)
Claude Code is the model-native terminal agent: it runs inside Claude Pro at $20 a month, Claude Max from $100, or straight off the API at per-token rates with no seat fee. - GitHub Copilot — 4.4/5 · Free plan · $10/mo (Pro)
GitHub Copilot is the IDE-native default: free for personal use, Pro at $10 a month, Pro+ at $39 and Max at $100, with a separate credit meter for agent usage on top of the plan price. - Windsurf (Cognition) — 4.0/5 · Free plan · $20/mo (Pro)
Windsurf, now part of Cognition, is the quota-priced editor: free with a light agent quota, Pro at $20, Max at $200, and Teams at $80 plus $40 per full developer seat. - Kiro (AWS) — 3.9/5 · Free plan · $20/user/mo (Pro)
Kiro is AWS's spec-driven IDE: free with 50 credits a month, then Pro at $20, Pro+ at $40, Pro Max at $100 and Power at $200 per user, with overage at $0.04 per credit.
Frequently asked questions about Cursor
How much does Cursor cost?
Free plan available; paid plans from $20/mo (Individual); hobby $0 · Individual $20/mo (Pro/Pro+/Ultra ladder) · Teams $40/user/mo · Enterprise custom; a Yearly billing toggle exists on the pricing page; published per-plan annual rates are not itemized on the page. Billing detail: Subscription tiers carry limits on agent requests, frontier-model access and cloud agents; overage is billed on a usage basis. Teams adds centralized billing, SSO, team marketplaces and a team-wide privacy mode; Enterprise adds pooled usage, SCIM and audit logs. Figures verified 2026-09-30.
Does Cursor have a free plan?
Yes. Cursor has a free tier; paid plans start at $20/mo (Individual).
What is Cursor rated in our index?
Cursor sits at 4.5/5 in our index, strongest on functionality (5/5, research only) and weakest on usability (4/5, research only). Cursor is the pick when agent capability is the buying reason. The $20 Individual tier is the reference price every other tool here is measured against, and Teams at $40 per user buys central billing, SSO and shared agent context. Budget for overage: agent-request limits plus usage-based Bugbot means the real monthly cost tracks how much the team leans on agents. Choose Copilot if you want the cheapest seat and GitHub-native flow, Claude Code for terminal work with an API path, Windsurf if you prefer a quota you can forecast, and Kiro if you are AWS-centric.
What are the drawbacks of Cursor?
Paid tiers cap agent requests and then bill usage-based, so a heavy month costs more than the sticker price Bugbot code review is explicitly usage-based billing on top of the subscription No public seat minimum or annual rate on the page — Teams and Enterprise pricing only partly itemized.
What does Cursor do well?
The most capable agent loop in the class: frontier models, MCPs, skills, hooks and cloud agents all come with the $20 tier Free Hobby tier with limited agent requests and Composer access, so evaluation costs nothing Teams at $40 per user adds SAML/OIDC SSO, a team marketplace, shared cloud-agent context and a team-wide privacy mode.
How was Cursor verified?
Research-only pass over official sources, last checked 2026-09-30. Sources: cursor.com.
What are the alternatives to Cursor?
We track GitHub Copilot, Claude Code (Anthropic), Windsurf (Cognition), Kiro (AWS) as the closest alternatives in our AI Coding Assistants index, and 4 head-to-head comparisons against Cursor are available.