Coding & app buildersAnysphere

Cursor

Cursor is an AI code editor and agent platform from Anysphere, which SpaceX completed acquiring in August 2026. It pairs a desktop editor with cloud agents, a CLI and an iOS app, and runs its own Grok and Composer models alongside Claude, GPT and Gemini. Professional developers use it for multi-file, agent-driven work.

Visit Cursor

Quick facts

Vendor	Anysphere
Category	Coding & app builders
Platforms	WebiOSmacOSWindowsLinuxCommand lineJetBrains IDEsAPI

Free plan	Yes
Pricing from	$20/month
Last reviewed	Oct 12, 2026

Best for

Professional software developers
Engineers running parallel agents
Teams standardizing on one AI editor

Key features

Agent in the editor

Plans and applies changes across many files, runs terminal commands and iterates on errors inside the desktop app.

Cloud agents

Long-running agents work on a remote machine, build and test code, and open pull requests while your laptop is closed.

Projects (beta)

A coordinator agent keeps context over months of work and delegates tasks to many subagents, launched in September 2026.

Two usage pools

Cursor's own Grok and Composer models draw from a larger included pool; third-party models are billed at API rates.

Bugbot code review

Reviews pull requests for bugs automatically; on individual plans it is billed through usage-based pricing.

CLI, iOS and JetBrains access

Start agents from a terminal, an iPhone, or JetBrains IDEs through the Agent Client Protocol on paid plans.

Use cases

Migrate a large codebase to a new framework while cloud agents split the work into reviewable pull requests.
Point a project agent at a Slack bug-report channel so each new report gets triaged automatically.
Prototype a feature from scratch in a cloud agent, preview it in the browser and publish it through Vercel.

Pricing

Pricing from

$20/month

Hobby is free with limited Agent requests. Pro is $20/month, Pro+ $60/month with 3x Pro Agent limits, and Ultra $200/month with 20x. India also has Start at ₹649/month.

Ways to save

Yearly billing saves 20% compared with paying monthly.
Cursor's own models (Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5, Composer 2.5) come with more included usage than third-party models, so choosing them stretches a plan further.

Prices checked on Oct 12, 2026

Current deals

No live deals right now — check back or see all deals.AI Deals

Past promotions

Jun24

Cursor Pro free for students (closed)

Student offer · Verified university students

1 year free

What is Cursor?

Cursor is an editor built around AI agents that can run on your computer, in Cursor’s cloud or on self-hosted machines inside your own network. The desktop app is available for macOS, Windows and Linux, and the same agents can be managed from cursor.com/agents or Cursor for iOS.

What stands out

Its own models. Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5 and Composer 2.5 form a separate usage pool with more included usage than Claude, GPT or Gemini.
Agents that keep working. Cloud agents, automations and the Projects beta can react to Slack messages, schedules or pull requests without a prompt.
Privacy mode. When enabled, Cursor guarantees code data is not used for training by Cursor or its model providers.

Limitations

Cost is hard to predict. Cursor’s own docs estimate that daily agent users typically spend $60–$100 a month in total usage, well above the $20 Pro price. Hobby includes only a limited number of Agent requests, and the student discount is closed. JetBrains support needs a paid plan, and India’s Start plan excludes third-party models, Bugbot and on-demand usage.

Cursor FAQ

Yes. The Hobby plan costs nothing, needs no credit card and includes Composer plus a limited number of Agent requests each month. Unlimited tab completions, Bugbot and third-party frontier models start with Pro.

Not for new sign-ups. Cursor closed its student discount on June 25, 2026; students who already redeemed it keep their rate until the plan expires. Graduate students, researchers and educators can request credits through a form.

Cursor announced on August 14, 2026 that SpaceX had completed the acquisition. Grok 4.6, released two days earlier, leads Cursor's own model pool, and every paid plan now advertises Grok limits.

You can turn on on-demand usage, billed in arrears at the same API rates, or move to a higher plan. Cursor says requests are not downgraded in quality or speed.

Windsurf1 live

Cognition's agentic IDE, renamed Devin Desktop in June 2026.

GitHub Copilot1 live

AI pair programmer and coding agent inside your editor and GitHub.

OpenAI Codex1 live

OpenAI's coding agent for the terminal, IDE and cloud.

Cline

Open-source coding agent for VS Code and JetBrains that uses your own model keys.

Kiro2 live

AWS's agentic IDE that turns prompts into specs, then code.

Articles about Cursor

Three students laughing together at a table with laptops and notebooks

Deals

AI Student Discounts 2026: Free ChatGPT Plus, Google AI Pro, Copilot and More

As of October 2026, the best AI student discounts are 4 free months of ChatGPT Plus for US college students (claim by October 31), a free year of Google AI Pro (redeem by December 31), free GitHub Copilot through GitHub Education, Perplexity Education Pro at $10/month and free Notion Plus. Cursor's student offer ended on June 25, 2026.

Oct 4, 20268 min read

Laptop showing code in a dark editor theme on a desk beside a small plant

Comparisons

Best AI Coding Tools 2026: Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot and 12 More Compared

As of October 2026, the best AI coding tool depends on how you work: Claude Code for terminal agents (in Claude Pro, $20/month), Cursor for an all-in-one AI editor ($20/month), GitHub Copilot for value ($10/month, free for students), and Lovable or Replit for building apps without code.

Oct 4, 202610 min read

Workshop pegboard wall filled with neatly hung hand tools and power tools

Guides

Best Free AI Tools 2026: 20 Free Plans Worth Using, by Category

As of October 2026, the best free AI tools are ChatGPT, Gemini and DeepSeek for chat, GitHub Copilot for coding, Canva and Freepik for images, Kling and CapCut for video, ElevenLabs and Suno for audio, and NotebookLM for research. Every free plan has a cap, usually credits that reset daily or monthly.